Lex Cosmetics Seashell

You may remember that around the first of the year, Ji offered a RBL fan submission contest.  My entry was for an "oilslick" polish.  Unfortunately, it wasn't selected (it may have been put in her "impossible" catagory. LOL), so I was more than a little excited with Sarah's Seashell/Oilslick inspiration polish was voted to be in Lex's line up of polishes.

I finally got around to getting this one last week, and while it's a very pretty polish, I have to say, that I'm a tad underwhelmed.  :(  This is a deep charcoal base with tons of subtly holo microshimmer.  Again, it's pretty, but it doesn't quite meet what I had in mind.  I expected it to be a duo/multi-chrome rather than a holo, and the black base really took me out of the "inspired by a seashell" backstory.  It's silly, but in my mind, there is a bit of a disconnect between a deep charcoal polish and a seashell (of course, I fully admit that is probably nitpicking).

Also, when you have a polish like this, it comes with the territory that it's going to be compared to OPI My Private Jet holo.  And when you do that comparison, there is no contest.  My Private Jet will always reign supreme (of course, it's now super rare and $$$, so perhaps this would be a good lemming slayer)  However, Seashell seems very similar to Color Club Revvvolution (which I blog-sold or I would compare) and perhaps Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm (which I never owned).

In terms of application, my bottle leaked quite a bit in transit and I think that made the formula a bit thick.  It wasn't impossible to work with by any means, but I just had to be careful with it.  It was a good formula, though, and it dried fast and is super, super glossy with just 1 coat of TC (which is awesome considering sometimes, these kinds of colors have a tendency to eat up TC and end up looking muddy).  I haven't been able to stop looking at my nails today because the finish is so SHINY!  :)

Even with my issue regarding the color and leakage, I still wouldn't dissuade you from picking this one up, especially if you don't have any of the similar colors, and one of the reasons I'm saying this is because of the company, Lex Cosmetics.  First off, this is the only company, that I can think of, that let's their customers decide on their entire color line, not just a couple here and there.  Also, $1 of each bottle sold goes to the charity of the creator's choice.  In this case, Sarah's requested that $1 go to the fight against sexual assault.

Seashell is available at www.lexcosmetics.com, and the cost is $10 per bottle.

this was purchased by me

Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Purple Diamond

Like the Maybellines of last year, large amounts of Sally Hansen Nail Prisms have been showing up at Dollar Trees.  Unfortunately, the DT near me always has goose-egg in terms of nail products, and while you can find nail stuff at the next closest DT, it's always hit-or-miss.  So, a few weeks ago, when I happened to find a duo-pack of SH Nail Prisms White Diamond and Purple Diamond, I considered myself lucky.  No, they weren't the Nail Prisms that I would have chosen, given a choice, but I figured for a buck... why not.  However, the tops felt like they'd been welded shut, so, yesterday, I finally got them open and got around to trying one.

This is Purple Diamond, a soft purple holo.  Honestly, it's just okay, and if I had to get it again, I probably wouldn't.  It's not a bad polish, per se, just kinda dupey.  Application was fine, but stank to high-heaven (gotta love pre-B3F polishes).  It chipped within a couple of hours, but due to a crazy day today, I was unable to remove and apply something else, and it's been super chippy the rest of the day, but I'm sure a basecoat would have helped with that.  Pic is 3 coats.

NOTD: OPI DS Opulence

About a year, or even less ago, if you'd asked me, I'd say I was a shimmer girl.  I pretty much exclusively wore shimmers or glitters.  I thought cremes were boring and I hated holos.  I don't know what happened, because I've since changed my tune.  There is nothing more amazing to me than an edgy creme or a pretty holo.  Oh, I still love my glitters, but I'm finding myself reaching for my shimmers less and less.  It's kinda sad because they are still beautiful and I have a crap ton of them, but I just find myself not wearing them, or quickly taking them off if I do wear them.  Hopefully this is a phase and I'll be reaching for my shimmers in the near future.

In the meantime, I've been hoarding holos and cremes like nobody's bidnez.  One of my recent acquisitions was this... OPI DS Opulence.  I'm pretty sure this one came out in 2008 along with some other new DSs, but for some reason, I'm thinking this one is d/c'd, but I could be wrong.  I got mine at VNS, but it's also available at TD.  Opulence is a soft, vintage pink holo.  Unlike a lot of newer DSs, it's definitely a holo, but in non-sun light, it's just as pretty.  This was 2 coats and I had no application problems.  I love this one.  I think I may konad over it tomorrow.

You'll notice I changed my nail shape.  I was having too may breaks and splits with the squoval, so I went full-on oval.  I prefer squoval, or square for that matter, but it doesn't work with me.  What do you guys think?  Look okay?