Chinaglaze Refresh Mint

Ok, so I'm sure this will not be the 1st swatch of Refresh Mint you will have seen. I wanted to swatch this strictly because it is so pretty I think it deserves to be here. It is so easy to apply and has a great finish. 1-2 coats and you're done & it's great for summer/spring.

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Essie's Smooth Sailing

Essie's Smooth Sailing is from the 2011 Summer collection. I think this polish is very unique. It is blue/periwinkle with shimmer & I love it! When I wore this last I found myself staring at the shimmer on my nails throughout the day. It's a great polish, easy to apply and comes with a good finish. I love Essie polishes already, but I am super happy they came out with this super unique color. I give Smooth Sailing two thumbs up!

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OPI's Last Friday Night

I have mixed feelings with this polish from the Katy Perry collection. First let me say that I LOVE it as a top coat over white, or pale blue colors, as well as worn alone when my nails are a bit longer. Here I am wearing it alone, if you look at some of my previous posts you will see the aftermath of this polish. I swatched this one first, followed by some of the others & it left behind a glitter that was almost impossible to get off - for awhile at least. I had to scrub my fingers after all my swatching to completely get it off. I love this polish a lot, but I wish the clean up was a bit easier. Here are the swatches, enjoy :)

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NYX Girls ~ The Taupe

These polishes are becoming my favorite quickly!  Not only are they super cheap, but the application is great as well. The polish is a perfect taupe - in doors it has more plum undertones, but in the sunlight, it is more gray/brown. Here are 2 coats of The Taupe from NYX Girls ($1.99 usd).

(inside lighting)



China Glaze Adore & Passion from the Spring 2009 Romantique Collection

I have the entire set from the Romantique Collection, but I thought I'd spot light 2 of my favorites - Adore (a teal metallic) & Passion (a soft gold metallic). Both of these are awesome & opaque. I only had to use 1 coat for each of these. Apologies for the mess around my nails, I have been sick and lazy + the glitters from one of the polishes I swatched wouldn't come off of my fingers :(. Anyways, these are great, but as most metallics do, they tend to exemplify all of the imperfections in the nail and in the polish application. I'm getting better every day, so pretty soon it won't matter what polish I try! haha. Enjoy.



OPI's What's With the Cattitude?

So last night as promised I started swatching for the blog. I did about 5 or 6 different colors that you'll see in the next entries. OPI's What's With the Cattitude? was on my list of must-have's for a longgg time, until I finally found it in my area at the Flea Market. It is from the Shrek Collection and the color shown in these swatches reflects the true color of the polish. I used 3 coats, & I feel that is the minimum as this polish is pretty sheer after the 1st coat, and some spots can still be seen with 2 coats.



China Glaze Sea Spray + OPI Crown Me Already

I am sorry this post is so short, but I was out of work most of last week & today I'm sick and so behind that this post will be kind of short. But, tonight I am going to be swatching away, with lots to post for you this week. Today's NOTD is China Glaze Sea Spray with OPI's Crown Me Already as an accent nail. I LOVE both of these colors. Sea Spray is just gorgeous & one of my favorites, it's from the spring Anchor's Away Collection & from the first time I spotted it online, I knew it would be one of my favorites. OPI's Crown Me Already has also become a fast favorite. It is very pigmented and really a stand out glitter, sparkle, silver foil explosion! I recommend purchasing both of these. Crown Me Already if you don't already know is from the new OPI Miss America collection. Definitely want to try the others from that collection, when my finances are back on track. Anyways, Enjoy!



Cosmetic Arts Professional Nail Lacquer ~ Baby Blue

About a month or two ago I was at Ross & spotted this super pretty baby blue color for only $1.99.  I can't find much about the brand (Cosmetic Arts Professional Nail Lacquer) online & there are only a couple swatches, but if you happen to have a Ross in your area I would definitely recommend picking this polish up if you see it. It goes on great and makes applying super easy. I also love the color & it's very in right now for summer. There is no name to specify the color, but the color in the bottle looks pretty much identical to my swatch below.

NOTD: NYX Girls Sweetest Pink + Dynamic Glitter

Today I paired two polishes from the NYX Girls collection - Sweetest Pink & Dynamic Glitter for an accent nail. I have to say that I am super impressed with the quality of these NYX polishes, they are $1.99 each (& in some areas only 99 cents). They are so worth it. I would compare Sweetest Pink to a good dupe for OPI's Mod About You, which is one of my all time favorite OPI polishes. I applied 3 coats, but you could get away with 2 if you wanted too. I applied the Dynamic Glitter which has a lavender tint to it with lots of silver holo glitter and some circular larger silver sparkles as well. I really like this glitter & with 1 coat my accent nail was complete. I think it'd be a bit too much on every nail, but that's up to you. The 1st photo was taken in sunlight & the next 2 were taken inside.

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NYX Moonwalker & NYC Starry Silver Glitter

I recently noticed a display of several NYX Girls nail polishes for only $1.99 in a clothing boutique by my house. I can't seem to find a lot of swatches of them anywhere, so I purchased a few of my favorites and will be swatching them this week. This was a combo I did with NYX Moonwalker - a very pigmented metallic silver. Very easy to apply & very pretty - it can get a couple of bumps in it, so I definitely recommend a top coat. I used NYC Starry Silver Glitter & loved the combo. Kind of spacey, which is in right now. I topped it off with Seche Vite top coat.

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China Glaze ~ Shocking Pink + Wet-n-Wild ~ Party of Five

My inspiration for this duo was Deborah Lippman's Candy Shop. I am 100% aware that this does not look like Candy Shop, but I thought the combo came out alright. Definitely not for everyday where, but if you have a cutesy event to go to, it works great! I wore this while handing out shots at my boyfriend's uncle's club. It seemed fitting and matched my outfit, it also stood out great with the black lights.

China Glaze Shocking Pink is my favorite nail polish - especially for toes! It is long lasting and is really easy to apply. I topped this with Wet-n-Wild's Party of Five Glitters nail polish. It is an awesome dupe and I love it! It does however take some efforts to get the sparkles off of the brush, but I love the colors in the glitter & I think it's a great, affordable dupe in comparison to the real thing!

 

^Party of Five Glitters ~ Wet-N-Wild^

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Jordana ~ Purple Glam

So, this weekend I went to the Festival Flea Market in Pompano Beach, FL.  Let me just tell you - this place is like Heaven! They have tons of discontinued nail & makeup collections + all the brand new stuff too. I seriously recommend anyone in the area to visit it ASAP if you haven't already. I went there to pick up the new OPI Crown Me Already from the Miss America collection (you'll see that in an upcoming post), but I found this too & for only $1.99, how can you go wrong? I have loved every single Jordana nail polish I have tried. . this one in particular is one of my favorites! Sorry for the low quality of photos, I was dying to make this post, but had to take the photos from my phone @ work.

^http://nouveaucheap.blogspot.com^

This is in natural light - you can kind of see the glitter (both horizontal and sparkles)

It is way more noticable in person.

These reflect more of the true base color of the polish.

You can purchase Jordana nail polish at jordanacosmetics.com, cherryculture.com & more sites online. Most dollar stores carry it as well.

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