Lippmann Collection March Madness Sale

Lippmann Collection is having a sale!!!!!

25% off your order of $75 or more plus free shipping. Use code 0309madness at checkout.

Three days only.

I have lots of Lippmann swatches :)

OPI Fairytale Bride: Soft Shades 2009

OPI's soft shades for this year are actually quite interesting. Instead of being plain pale cremes, each color has a soft base color with a contrasting flash of another color. They're not true duochromes- the flash is strong enough to be noticed but not so strong that it overpowers the soft base color.

There are only four polishes in this year's collection. They are:




At First Sight. A very pale and soft nude/neutral base with gold flash.




I Pink I Love You. A soft baby pink with blue flash.



Isn't It Romantic? A very pale pink with green flash.




Otherwise Engaged. A pinkish-white with purple flash.


All pictures are three coats of polish. All of the colors are very sheer, as you can tell by the visible nail line even with three coats of polish. Four coats would make them almost entirely opaque. These can easily be worn with only one coat because they are not the least bit streaky and add an interesting shimmering pearl effect to the nails due to the colored flash in each shade.

The formula on these was fantastic. I had no application issues. They were neither runny nor thick like three-free polishes tend to be. The drying time on these was quite a bit longer than other OPI polishes. I'm not sure if it's because I did three coats or if it's the polish itself, but even with Seche Vite I could dent these up to two hours later.

Overall, they're not too bad for soft shades. They're not streaky! Not that I'm happy about more sheer pinks being released, but at least these have the fascinating colored pearl flash and there's only four of them instead of six.


I wish OPI's next Soft Shades collection would be a set of sheer crystal shimmers like Hollywood Blonde and Up Front And Personal, but in soft shades of blue, purple, gold, silver and green. That's my dream soft shades collection!

Breitling Professional Airwolf (I.)

My dream watch is Breitling Professional Airwolf. I don't know if I will ever have one, since the retail price is about 2800-2900eur. It's a lot of money for a watch, so even if I save up enough, I wonder if I would really buy it.

Maybe when I have everything that's essential for a good life: a good job, a house, a car and if I am married the consent of my wife :-) Anyway, until then I'll just continue admiring this watch on photos. I must add that I also like many other Breitling models, so I may post about them next time. Here's some photos of my dream watch 'Airwolf'.


More info: Airwolf review, Breitling blog, Breitling website.

Preview: OPI Breathe Life

OPI Breathe Life. Four coats, indoors.

Just a quick shot of it for now- it's stormy outside so I can't get a nice, sparkly sunlight picture. Not that I'm complaining- I love the rain! Only... not when I want to take pictures of polish. I'll do a more detailed picture of this as soon as the lighting cooperates.

Here's what OPI says about this gorgeous shade:

So We Can All Breathe Easier …

New OPI Breathe Life Nail Lacquer Supports

New Lung Cancer Foundation of America

The facts can leave you breathless: Lung cancer is the #1 killer of women, making it more deadly than the six next largest cancer killers combined. And 60% of new lung cancer victims will be non-smokers.

For these reasons, OPI is proud to join with the Lung Cancer Foundation of America (LCFA). LCFA’s primary goal is not just to prevent lung cancer, but to cure it. To help “breathe life” into raising funds for early detection, diagnosis, and a cure, OPI has created an exclusive new Nail Lacquer called Breathe Life – a fresh-air, silvery-blue.

“The statistics are shocking. Lung cancer has stopped our breathing long enough, and we need to stop it now,” says Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI Executive VP & Artistic Director.

In addition to this new Nail Lacquer, OPI has also made a donation to LCFA. “Because LCFA is a new organization, working on the frontlines at the grassroots level, every dollar contributed makes a tremendous impact,” Weiss-Fischmann says.

Release date is April 1.

OPI Princess Charming Collection

In my post about the Essie Bridal Collection I mentioned that there was a collection of sheer pinks and whites that I actually like. Here it is- the OPI Princess Charming Collection.

This collection is already a few years old, but it still holds the title of "Only collection of soft shades that I like." The difference is that these soft shades have personality. Observe:




Got A Date To-Knight! A light petal pink creme with a shiny, jelly-like texture. You know me- you know I never wear these colors! But I have actually worn this. Twice. Because I wanted to. There's just something about it that I like, I'm not quite sure what. It's just so... cute...?




I'm A Princess, You're Not! A sheer shimmery iridescent shade that flashes green, pink, silver and soft gold. It's sheer, yes, but it's a duochrome! If you haven't noticed, I use the term 'duochrome' loosely- there are often more than two colors present but I don't feel like counting how many. Would that make this a quadrachrome? See, that sounds weird. Anyway, this color is really pretty on its own, but it's also really cool over black.




My Daddy's The King! A soft, pearl-finish peach. One of the few peach polishes in my collection, actually. I can't believe how much I truly like this. The unique shade and the pearly finish make me love it. That, and it just looks so nice on me. (Wow, I sound like a total narcissist!)




Princesses Rule! A sheer pale pink shimmer. If you do not have this polish, run, do not walk, to the nearest nail polish store and get it! It's the pink version of OPI Hollywood Blonde... well, I guess Hollywood Blonde came out later so maybe Hollywood Blonde is the gold version of Princesses Rule!. Also looks hot over black. One of the things OPI does very well are these sheer crystal polishes. I always look forward to them. Some other examples besides Hollywood Blonde and Princesses Rule! are Up Front And Personal, Pink Before You Leap, Pink Ulta-Matum and That's All Bright With Me (just to name a few.)




Who Needs A Prince? A soft white jelly with red pearl. The red pearl in this shade gives the illusion that the polish is pink. At a distance it looks like shimmery pink, but up close you can clearly distinguish the white and red. So cool.





Your Royal Shyness. Very delicate light pink with a pearl finish. This is a very pale pink. This is the only one in the collection I'm not completely crazy about. It's pretty, yes, but it's so delicate! Delicate colors just aren't my thing. I love the pearl finish- it's not frosty and it's not shimmery, it just looks like a real pearl. It's hard to find polishes that are truly pearl and not frost. This one looks smooth and shiny, even without topcoat.


These polishes used to come with a really fabulous crystal flower toe ring with an invisible band. I think I have one or two of them, but most of the time people just stole the toe rings of of the bottles so I couldn't collect them all. Boo, thieving bastards. You suck.

The formula on this collection is excellent. I am pretty sure it's old-formula OPI, but I don't remember old-formula polishes having the Pro-Wide brush. The label on the bottom is black, so I can only assume it is. They all apply smoothly with no notable issues and they all dry very quickly and to a shiny finish, even without topcoat.

I really do not like sheers, pinks, soft colors, neutrals, what have you- but this collection is too good to resist. They all have character! They're interesting! They all remind me of fairy colors or something. Fairy-tale, for sure. And the names... how could you not like the names? Okay, I'm not into princess stuff at all, but Who Needs A Prince? Genius!

I'm almost positive that this collection is still available, and I've even seen it with green-label new formula bottles, so some of the shades might even be Classics now. If you're in the market for ladylike colors with character, you might really like these. I do.

*watches a pig fly past the window*

Tribute to Laura Ling and Euna Lee

Two American reporters, Laura Ling (on the left) and Euna Lee (on the right) were detained by North Korea. Allegedly they were illegally intruding in the great state of North Korea, crossing the border from China. I don't know what they were doing in those areas, but I hope they won't get harmed or abused in the great state of the beloved leader Kim Jong-gravely-ill. If you google Laura Ling, you'll see she's quite famous, while Euna is less so. Nevertheless, let's hope both of them will return safe and sound out of the great state of North Korea and won't be used for North Korean propaganda against the USA.

[Photos: Yahoo]

MAC Sugarsweet Polishes: Seasonal Peach and Peppermint Patti

I'm sure you've all seen these a bajillion times already, but I've been wearing Peppermint Patti since it arrived on my doorstep on Friday and I snapped a few pics.

It is super hot. Seriously.



MAC Peppermint Patti, in sunlight and indoors. It's not 100% accurate in these pictures, it's a bitch and a half to photograph! It's not as blue as these pictures suggest. It's a soft minty, nearly turquoise green. I had no application problems- it was smooth, dense and creamy. This is two coats. Very pigmented. Excuse the tipwear, I've been wearing it since Friday.

The decal is by Fing'rs EDGE Royal Punk Nail Art. Isn't it awesome?!



MAC Seasonal Peach. A creamy, milky retro peach. I bought this when it came out last year, so I'm not sure if there are any formula or color differences between this and the one released with Sugarsweet. I love this color. It's so retro! It's very flattering and feminine on my hands, but it's not boring. I think the starkness of it gives it an edge. I don't have very many colors like this in my collection and I can't think of a single duplicate.

I also had no problems applying this one. It's streaky on the first coat like any other light milky color would be, but it was pretty much entirely even on the second coat. I do three coats when I wear it, just to make sure it's entirely opaque. Many people complain that this is a nightmare to apply- it wasn't for me. It was actually really nice. So, your mileage may vary.

I think these would look even better together. I was going to do Peppermint Patti on all fingers but my ring finger and then do Seasonal Peach on my ring finger, but then I decided I wanted a decal instead. I'm definitely doing it next time!

I'm also testing out a few new things- a fake nail that promises 10 days of wear and topcoat that promises not to chip or peel, so we'll see how that works out. I look like I have Frankenfingers- one nail is short and french, the rest are long and green with skull decals. I feel like I have someone else's thumb attached to my hand, it's so bizarre. Stripper thumb transplant FTW!!