Chanel Sweet Star

For today I actually have a post of a polish that isn't totally discontinued. It was super limited edition but you can still get it on Chanel's website (if you live in a country that Chanel makeup/skincare/fragrance will ship to).  So all in all not much better than my last few posts with difficult to find polishes, since this one is still pricey, but at least you COULD buy it if you really wanted to.

Anyway, this polish doesn't even have a number, which I've heard from various blogs and youtube videos means "super limited edition" apparently. I was so on the fence on buying this one I mean in most photos online it looks grey and boring and kind of like (to me at least) L'Oreal's Valiant from the color of hope collection (2011). It looked pretty but not worth 27 bucks. However, I spotted some photos that must have been taken in extreme lighting or something because a couple of the photos I saw made it look magical and like an oil slick without looking like an oil slick. (Honors English classes apparently didn't help me any). The thing is I doubt anyone could really understand the appeal of this polish without seeing it first in person, which is what I gambled on when I ordered it off their website (but they do have free returns soooo you could send it back if it disappoints you).

On to some photos!

Apologies for all the bottle shots but that was really the best way to show this polish :-)

My ring finger in this photo has a layer of Nails Inc. The Thames underneath.

While you can see from these photos, the polish shifts from a silvery-grey to purple-y color. In some lights it comes off a bit taupe-y. It makes me think of Chanel Quartz, which I don't own but I think is more yellow and more brown than this is. There is just a wonderful sort of iridescence in this polish (and you know I have problem with iridescent polishes). It kind of makes me think of Zoya Pasha/Briza. Part of me wants to try this over black but I'm not sure how I'd feel about it.

Not sure if this is really a polish for everyone but if you are like me and aren't getting too excited about all these spring collections and are stupid enough to spend 27 dollars for a fancy bottle of polish it might be worth it. Definitely one of the most adult and tame polishes I own. I felt very grown up wearing this.





And you know I can't leave you without a video! I finally listened to the full album Chrome by Catherine Wheel this past fall (I've seriously been meaning to listen to this album since about 2006... I get so behind on these sorts of things) and definitely worth a listen if you like the same sort of music I do. Definitely more mellow than what I used to listen to (this song is the most energetic I'd say of the album) but we can't listen to super upbeat punk our whole life, (at least I can't it makes me a little anxious now, not that I think it is bad or anything).

 :-) ~drastic

Skinfood Sparkle Pedicure #7 Sun Yellow

I just want to say this is one of my most favorite polishes ever. If I could only have 10 polishes to wear for the rest of my life (with never ending bottles or ensuring they don't get discontinued) this would be one of them. I mean if you only gave me 5 polishes it would be in that group as well.

The Skinfood sparkle pedicures are such an interesting line of polishes. They have since been discontinued (because I can't seem to post photos of things that readily available). I also have #11 Diamond (which is like OPI's Happy Anniversary on steroids ) and I have #9 Sparkle Red (which is really a nude-pink) on the way (Ebay ordered while I was wearing #7).

Anyway, you might actually want me to describe this polish instead of yak about the other colors in the collection, which may or may not be impossible to find now.

Sun Yellow is a beautiful canary diamond sort of color. It is yellow but much softer than Zoya Kerry. It is also super reflective and has nice big particles ( I can't seem to go a post without mentioning particles but they are very important to me, especially in terms of polish!). The polish is kind of flake like with out being insane.

They look similar in this view, but Kerry is much brighter

While it doesn't look like it (I shook the bottle before photos) I made a big dent in this bottle. Last year I scoured ebay for another bottle and couldn't find one, so I just ordered the Skinfood Glipop #1 in Stone, it looks pretty close and the Glipop line seems to have replaced Sparkle Pedicure (~edit Glipop Stone is not the same, it is less yellow and definitely a gold, very pretty though).





Since this week is celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Father Ted, I figured I'd post a clip.:-) Probably my favorite show ever!


ok just two clips
~♥ drastic

My Top 10 Zoya Polishes: Zoya Earth Day Sale Reccomendations

I received an email last night in my inbox about the Zoya Earth Day Sale. While I personally haven't shopped their Earth Day Sale since 2010 (didn't seem that long ago until I really thought about it...), I figured why not show my 10 favorite Zoyas. Just in case you needed suggestions. Though to be honest this list will not be too surprising if you have read any of my other posts. :-)

Onward to the colors!

10. Zara

Zara as you can see is one of my most worn Zoyas, I'm not a huge purple fan, but this one I love (probably the gold shimmer's fault) This and the next one I wore a crap load in spring/summer 2010 (until I got OPI's Mad as a Hatter...then I wore exclusively that for a good while). Even if you aren't a super purple fan (I'm not) this one might be worth a shot.  This one makes me think I need to buy Zoya Leslie but I'm honestly not sure I need two purples like this especially when I don't wear purples all that much. If you think I need both, please let me know :-).

9. Erika

Erika and Hermina were the first two Zoya polishes I ever bought. Erika, is a pale pink with the same sort of shimmer Zara has. I have to admit although I'm really not a pink person this is so delicate and pretty looking that I don't really care it is pink. The shimmer stands out more and just works better with Erika than it does Zara. The golden shimmer is very typical of Zoya gold shimmer, it is a bit gold a bit orange and a touch green at some points. Definitely a must have.

8. Trixie

Trixie is a must have staple. Just a really good all around true silver foil. Some silvers either lean gold or have black speckles in them. This one is just true silver. Not much more to say about it. It is just really good and everyone needs a bottle of this.

7.  Ziv

Ziv on the other hand, is not your standard gold foil. It reminds me of the Skinfood Sparkle Pedicures in that it has a larger particle size without being too big that it looks fuzzy. Ziv is super reflective and has some paler flecks as well as some orange-y/coppery flecks.


6.  Blaze

Blaze is one of many Zoya scattered holographics. While I'm not typically a red nail polish person, nor much of  a holographic nail polish person (though I do love holo glitter). What I love is the depth of this. The base is sheerer than the other versions of this polish and it just transforms the prismatic particles into something more magical. I also own Payton and while it is neat, it just doesn't have the presence this polish has, and I'm not sure any of their other handful of holos have quite this depth (though Dream looks like it could be close).


5. Hazel

Hazel is icy and cool without being too blue. It is a pale blue foil with some golden flakes/particles. It is hard to tell if the gold is a cooler gold or if it is more orange. It could be a little bit of both (like the traditional Zoya gold shimmer just larger) but I'm having trouble telling in this light. Maybe not a must have but very wintery and I really enjoy it.


4. Rikki

Rikki is a green, but I'm not sure what kind of green to describe it as. It isn't quite sage, so I'm just going to call it medium-light true green. It has a smaller particle size than Hazel , at least it seems like it to me. Definitely foil-y and definitely unique. Not much more to say about this!

3. Edyta

Sorry this photo is a bit blurry, but it looked better blurry. This is one of those polishes that was so unique when it came out in 2010. Not so sure if it is quite so revolutionary now, but is still very nice. It has a dark greeny-blue base with lots of the standard Zoya gold shimmer. I consider it a must have for fall. It is different than Butter London's Wallis, but if you like that one you probably will like this as well. Kind of in the same area as China Glaze Cast a Spell as well. They are all different, but in my opinion necessary .


2.  Kerry

I already professed my love for this shade in a recent post, but if you didn't read that or didn't hear it enough then, this is an amazing yellow pseudo-foil. It is super sparkly but in my opinion it just falls a little short to be called a true foil. I don't care what other people say this is not yellow gold, it is straight up yellow. I personally think everyone needs this. Put it in your shopping cart!

1. Logan

Logan came from the 2012 Ornate Holiday Collection. That holiday collection had three holographic shimmers in jelly bases (including Blaze) Ziv, Electra (which was holo bar glitter, and I believe is discontinued) and this beautiful green. For some reason people tend to group Logan in with Blaze, Storm and Aurora, but it isn't holographic at all, no prismatic particles to be seen.  This isn't holo but don't let that be the reason you don't buy Logan. It has the wonderful gold shimmer like many of my favorite Zoyas, but it just has so much dimension and depth. It is, as I said around Christmas, the most perfect holiday green. If you don't already own this one, I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you just are new to Zoya or maybe don't think green is for you. But honestly everyone needs this. I own a backup already. But that is mostly due to my paranoia. After Electra disappeared from their website along with Julie each less than a year after release I didn't want to risk it. I have to admit I was a bit miffed Rose disappeared as well since I had been thinking about that one and Dharma (also gone ) for a long time (they didn't carry those at the salon  where I normally buy my Zoyas, and I just couldn't commit)

*EDIT: OMG... I was scrolling through the Zoya polishes because you know I can't stop myself from looking even though I don't need anymore... and Logan was not there :'( So I'm very sorry if  you got all excited for Logan. So wrong of you Zoya, I swear you did that just to make me sad, because I said some of your polishes disappointed me in the past( because I expect more from a brand Cleveland).

Honorable Mention: Zoya FeiFei! I don't actually own this one, but I own the now discontinued Cover Girl dupe, and I wish I had bought it as the Zoya (the bottles are better) back when it came out. So don't make my mistake :-)

Anyway I hope this gave you some good ideas for the Earth Day Sale! I'm still not sure if I'm doing it this year. I'm not sure there are 6 Zoyas that I really want, let alone need.  Other than maybe finally getting Ivanka (I've been trying not to buy that since it came out in 2010) and maybe trying Blu despite my animosity towards creams, I can't think of any thing else worth getting (aside from the discontinued Rose and Dharma [ why oh why!] ).


~ ♥ drastic

p.s. if anyone was curious I'm wearing China Glaze Rare and Radiant

Chanel Bel-Argus

So if you read my blog at the beginning (which wasn't that long ago/ I doubt that many people actually read my blog) you will know that this past fall I was trying to find dupes for Chanel Azure and Bel-Argus because even though it had been more than a year since they came out (at the time) I couldn't stop thinking about them. Anyway long story short, I finally bought Bel-Argus about a month ago on Ebay because I figured if I couldn't stop thinking about it two years later it might be worth the price.  I have to admit, despite it seeming very boring and normal blue, it is very pretty and there is something about the shimmer and the particle size is very unique.

I heard some blogs suggest these were dupes of each other, they definitely are not

OPI Swimsuit Nailed it and Bel-Argus

It seemed like a good Blue Jays' blue, but the lighting made it seem otherwise.

So as you can see above, one of the most common suggested dupe I saw on the internet was OPI Swimsuit... Nailed it. The thing is they are very different, Swimsuit nailed it is much less true blue, and Bel-Argus does maybe lean more purple? I would say they are both blue but the tones are different and Swimsuit... Nailed it is more metallic, not quite a foil but definitely more sparkly and metallic where as Bel-Argus is definitely more of a classic shimmer sort of polish. I would definitely say photos do not do this polish justice there is something very different about it. It isn't the easiest thing to get a hold of right now, but if you manage to find it/you can justify the price it is quite pretty.

~drastic

OPI This Color's Making Waves

So like I said the other day, lots of duochromes will be coming up. This one is reasonably new from the OPI Hawaii collection. I bought this soley because it is supposed to be a pretty good dupe for Chanel Azure. I never bought Chanel Azure because I couldn't justify it for a color that seemed so 90s. Nothing against the 90s I enjoyed the 90s very much (as much as an elementary school child could) but I just felt like it had been done already (despite the fact that there were no dupes to be found). Back in the fall I did try Deviantly Daring by China Glaze which was too dark and maybe not quite right with the finish. The OPI version has more of a foil-ish type finish and has added pink micro glitter. On to the photos

This polish definitely looks better in more extreme lighting, in everyday lighting it looks a bit blah on me. For someone with my pale skintone I think more vibrant, saturated colors look better. This one in average light just looks a bit washed out. It is a shame becuase it is so pretty in the bottle. Though I did spy some images of the fall OPI collection and one of them looks a bit Chanel Azure-y and Chanel Bel-Argus-y (potentially). So I'm excited to see more of that! I also think I shall attempt an OPI TCMW and China Glaze DD mashup/layering experiment. Hopefully that turns out ok...

Happy Wednesday !

~ DA

Light it up Blue for Autism + Missha HGR01

So, I normally do a really good job of dressing up in blue and having blue nails on April 2nd which is World Autism Day. My twin brother is on the Autism spectrum as well as a couple of my cousins. However, did I not only not wear blue nail polish, I forgot to wear blue at all, and I didn't get a blue post up on April 2nd. But I was wearing this wonderful duo chrome which flashes blue.  I'm hoping that sort of counts.... it is the thought right? Luckily there is a whole month dedicated to autism awareness, hopefully I can get some more blues in!

I don't believe this one is available anymore :-( I went looking yesterday for a back up bottle since mine is getting low and drying out, and I was unable to find any on ebay.  Anyway here are my not so great photos, a storm rolled in right around the time I started taking photos, and by the time it stopped raining my nails were chipped.

Blue for Autism Awareness and a peep for Easter :-)

I'm not typically a huge fan of duo chromes (which I'm going to sound like a hypocrite here because I just bought a couple more duo chromes... I must be on a kick or something) but what I like about this one is the particle size, it is nice and bigger than some other chromes so instead of looking streaky and frosty this looks streaky and beautiful. The brushstrokes add to the polish by showing off the larger particles, it looks a bit like chocolate Easter egg wrappers that have been bunched up and carefully smoothed out. It is just visually interesting to me. I don't like super smooth looking chromes either.

Anyway enough babbling. This polish is beautiful and if you can get your hands on it, it would be worth having. There are dupes to this out there but I'm not sure if they'd have the same exact look, they could be streakier I suppose.

Anyway enough of my babbling...

Belated Autism Awareness Day and Happy Easter.

~DA

To learn more about Autism Spectrum Disorders you can visit https://www.autismspeaks.org/



I know some people do not like Autism Speaks but I think awareness is important if people are aware people can then learn to accept. Same with any other person with a learning or developmental disability. There needs to be better support for all people with any sort of special need regardless of what their diagnosis is or isn't. Every person special needs or not deserves to be treated with respect and understanding. This happens in the mental health world as well. Not everyone realizes that some people need accommodations due to mental illness, physical, intellectual and developmental disabilities. We are all different and everyone needs different types of support. Everyone is special and everyone deserves to be treated like human. Helping someone cope with the world around them and helping them expand their boundaries is good no matter who you are.

People may get upset when organizations make autism spectrum disorders sound like a disease, but you know what, help and services directed towards my brother really helped him. He graduated college and has a job and is an engineer he was able to achieve so much, I"m so proud of him, but he couldn't have done that without help. He's super smart but things aren't always easy for him. Maybe people feel being born the way they are and having it called a disease is insulting, but I have anxiety (amongst other things) and that's a disease too. I was born that way, I've always had anxiety and panic attacks doesn't make it any less part of me.  People don't always understand when I can't do things or go places because of it, but it doesn't mean I don't need help. If you don't want or  don't feel you need help that's okay, no matter what sort of condition it is. But it is imperative those services and options are available for people who do want and need them. I don't think any non profit tries to insult people, they just want to help and facilitate ways people can get services and aid that they personally want and need.  If you are happy, that's all that matters in life. It hurts me to see  people getting angry at charities that just want to help. No one is taking away anyone's freedoms.


anyway that's the end of my rant... *steps off soapbox*

Just treat people how you want to be treated. even if you have a bad day, or things stink for you, be kind to others, I honestly think the world could do with a lot more kindness. Realize not everyone is like you, realize that people are people. And when you hurt someone with any sort of disability whether verbally or physically, it hurts the people they love and who love them, so you are affecting more than just that person you have some issue with because they are different.

♥ I'm really done now. :-)

North, South, East and West: Zoya Kerry

 ♪♫♪♫ Don't wait up for me tonight... ♫♪♫♪

It is really starting to feel like spring now so I felt a very springy color was in order. Zoya's Kerry is a daffodil yellow foil type polish. Kerry is one of my top Zoyas for sure. No much to say about it so onward to the photos!

Zoya Kerry

how beautiful is that!?

This lighting might be my favorite

This shot shows off the sheerness well

This polish is very peculiar, in that it can look a bit grey in places. I only notice it in extreme light and it fades around my ridges and edges of the nail. Some lights this looks very yellow and others it can appear a bit faded. I've seen people call this color a yellow gold but I don't really think it is. I mean in the bottle in some lights parts of it will appear a bit gold but it is too yellow to be gold. It is definitely a canary yellow, it is super unique and definitely something you need if you like super sparkly reflective polishes.

I know I posted the full album this came from earlier but I'm really loving this song right now. It seemed the most fitting :-)

~drastic ♥