ALU’s 365 of Untrieds – The Painted Nail Legendary Lavender & Moon Drops Top Coat
365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to.This morning I had the pleasure of speaking with the gregarious Katie Cazorla, owner of The Painted Nail salon, and star of the upcoming reality show Nail Files premiering the TV Guide Network on June 21st at 10pm EST.
Having seen the premiere episode, I can tell you that Nail Files should be added to your summer TV schedule. It has no shortage of over-the-top fun, drama and, most importantly, NAIL talk. What impresses me about Katie is that in the two years since opening her salon, it has become a celebrity beauty haven and grown to include a boutique and product line with her own branded nail polish in collaboration with Fanatic fave Nubar. I’ll be sharing more of my interview with Katie in a separate post along with a fun giveaway but today I want to focus on the polish. I was sent a set of The Painted Nail’s Spring/Summer 2011 collection and let me just say, it delivered on the glittery goodness that Katie is known for loving. The rich purple sparkler Legendary Lavender immediately caught my eye and I couldn’t resist adding a touch of Moon Drops Top Coat. Check it! |
ALU’s 365 of Untrieds – Nina Ultra Pro Salsa
365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to.
I was recently telling a friend that my holy grail of greens, the thing I don’t have, with the exception of a green holo (STILL waiting for that), is a dark emerald jelly polish. NARS Zulu gets all sorts of buzz but anyone who has tried it knows the formula is a train wreck. Even the Nfu Oh green jellies, while a huge improvement over Zulu, aren’t perfect. On a similar note, I stumbled across a FANTASTIC green jelly today while I was attempting to reorganize some of my polishes. It’s not my dream emerald green jelly but it’s still unique. I have no idea when Nina Ultra Pro Salsa came into my life. I think it was last summer when I purchased Never Glum Plum but can’t be sure. Check it! |
ALU’s 365 of Untrieds – Chanel Pearl Drop from Spring 2011
365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to.
As much as I believe that you never get the whole nail polish story until you see the juice on the nail, I love looking at bottle images. One of my favorite things about scrolling through Tumblr posts is when I stumble across a great bottle shot. So I started photographing my collection, in bottles, by brand, with the intention of eventually posting them in my gallery. FYI, my gallery hasn’t allowed me to upload photos for a year and that’s why it isn’t updated. I haven’t found a fix or a better gallery solution which is why it remains unchanged since April 2010. It’s not that I’m neglecting it. Anyway, I decided to start with Chanel, going color drawer by color drawer though my Helmers. I’ll be posting the pics on my Tumblr in the meantime so if you want to follow along, subscribe to my account over there. I started with my white, black, gray and silver drawers and that inspired me to finally try Chanel Pearl Drop. Pearl Drop seemed to be the forgotten child in the Spring 2011 collection as Black Pearl garnered all the buzz so I was curious to see if it would end up being a sleeper hit. |
ALU’s 365 of Untrieds – Sally Hansen Coral Fever from the Tracy Reese for Sally Hansen Spring 2011 Collection
365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to.
Let’s kick off the week with my “lesson learned” moment Fanatics! When I started this 365 project I told myself I wouldn’t do any posts in advance unless I was going to be out of town. I wanted it to be as organic as possible and show you my untrieds selections as the mood struck me. The whole point was to challenge myself to post a new polish swatch and review every day. Well when I became sick this weekend, it threw a wrench in the plan. I actually slept until 2pm today. CRAZY! So in case of emergency I’m going to put a couple posts in the hopper should this issue arise again. I learned my lesson and will add a couple days to the 365 to make up for it. Though there’s no point in dwelling on what I can’t fix so let’s just move forward, shall we? I had the good fortune to attend the Tracy Reese Spring 2011 RTW runway show which had a 70s chic, jetsetter-on-safari kind of vibe. Mixed in with the graphic prints, black & white basics and sandy neutrals were pops of lavender, blue and coral. Tracy pulled inspiration from her fabrics when it came time to collaborate with her longtime partner-in-polish Sally Hansen. Of the seven shades in the collection, Sally Hansen Coral Fever really piqued my interest. |
ALU’s 365 of Untrieds – Zoya Phoebe from the ModMatte Summer 2011 Collection
365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to.
Matte nail polish reemerged on the nail polish scene in 2009 and regardless of how you feel about the gloss-less look, I’ve always said there is one major benefit to matte; dry time. If you’re a girl on the go, the super speedy drying power of mattes can save you from leaving the house with naked nails. Before you even hit the door, your nails are smudge-proof. I’m genetically predisposed to being fifteen minutes late wherever I go thanks to my perpetually late mother. Okay so lateness isn’t an inherited trait, it’s a case of nurture not nature, but I consistently find myself grabbing for a matte minutes before I dash out of the house. Even if it’s only to cover up my swatching nails, creating what I call “nail blogger skittles.” Such was the case when I applied Zoya Phoebe from the recently released ModMatte collection. |
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