OPI Overexposed in South Beach

Good morning, everyone. It's that time again; that's right, it's Monday. Time to start a new week. For those of you reading from the United States, though, you're probably lucky and have the day off. I myself always have Mondays off so today is nothin' special, work-wise. Traditionally Memorial Day is thought of as the beginning of summer here in the US, so I guess that's definitely something to get excited about. When it hits June (tomorrow...can you believe it?) I'm usually pretty confident that there will be no more snow. That's a pleasant thought.

Today I've got a polish for you that I received in a swap from Annie, the proprietor of the blog NAILSTAH.

This is OPI Overexposed in South Beach from the 2009 spring South Beach collection. This is truly a gorgeous polish. I feel like I had picked it up a million times and considered buying it but just never did. When Annie offered to send it to me I happily accepted. The base of the polish is a super red-leaning purple...maybe it's magenta. It ends up looking way pinker in the sunlight than it does indoors; indoors it looks kind of vampy and sexy, a darker purple shade. The polish also has really fine blue, purple and pink shimmer running through it. I believe this was two coats. The application was a breeze! It's funny that I had so much trouble with Over the Taupe and Overexposed in South Beach was just fine. They were released around the same time by the same company. I don't understand, OPI. Quality control and consistency make Steffie a happy panda. Anyway, I'd definitely recommend this shade if you haven't picked it up yet. It's vampy enough to satisfy my cravings for a darker color but sparkly and sweet enough in the sunshine for summertime.

Yesterday I used my baby french press for the first time!

Isn't it cute? I've named him François.

nom nom nom

I think I would use this little guy every day if it didn't involve the extra step of boiling water. That's right, I'm that lazy in the morning. Funny how I say that and I'm sitting here completely uncaffeinated. I've been trying to switch from coffee to tea lately. More accurately, one of my co-workers has been trying to get me to switch from coffee to tea. It was working for a couple weeks, but I had a coffee relapse a couple days ago with my twelve shots of espresso in my iced Americanos. Oh well. Today's a new tea-filled day.

So what do you guys think about Overexposed in South Beach? Did you pick it up when it was originally released or did you pass? Do you love it as much as I do? The only issue I see with it is that it seems like it's kind of easily dupe-able. The color isn't entirely unique but...it's still really beautiful. I hope those of you who celebrate Memorial Day have a good one and I'll be back with another polish tomorrow!

OPI Over the Taupe

Good morning, everyone. It's Saturday! Happy Saturday! You know what else is happy? My mum and dad have decided to go...somewhere (I'm not sure where they're off to) so I have the place to MYSELF. Ah, bliss. Bliss eternal. Well, by "eternal" I mean until Monday afternoon. But still. I remembered this week why I had tried to become a morning person to begin with, and that reason is summer. Mornings in the summertime are simply amazing and lovely. Right now I'm sitting on my back porch under a ridiculously large umbrella, drinking my coffee, and listening to the birds be annoying. I always get really sad when I sleep through the morning in the summer. In the wintertime it's not that important because morning tends to look the same as 3pm. You know what I mean? Mornings in the summer just feel so fresh and new and clean.

Last night around midnight I decided to do my nails again. Crazy bananas.

This is OPI Over the Taupe from last summer's Bright Pair collection. It kind of scares me that I bought a polish last June and I am just now busting it out a year later. This needs to be remedied. I like this color. It reminds me a bit of Rimmel Steel Grey. As has been said ad nauseum, I'm sure, I don't understand what it was doing in a brights collection. I guess because mushroom shades were kind of a big deal last year around this time. Come to think of it, they're still kind of a big deal. The application on this was shitty. The formula was super, super runny and watery. Initially I did two coats but I thought the better of it and added a third. I was angry at the polish while I was doing this. Then after the third coat I looked down at it and thought, "This is really nice..." A good creme just kind of lulls me into complacency, apparently.

Now for a bit of a lesson about taupe. According to Wikipedia, taupe "refers to any grayish-brown color . . . [and] derives from the Latin name for the European Mole." It gives kind of a color chart that defines different types of taupe. I had fun with it. Over the Taupe is what Wikipedia would define as "medium taupe," while $OPI Metro Chic is "purple taupe," and OPI You Don't Know Jacques! would be a true taupe, or "dark taupe." Fun times with colors!

Over the Taupe reminded me a bit of what my coffee looks like after I add soy milk (ie a little gross).

Ew, doesn't it look like sludge? It's because I shake the soy container before I pour it into the coffee. This causes bubbles and froth. Over the past two weeks I've decided that I need to give up half and half, which is sad because I love it. There's just no reason to have all that fat in the morning.

Oh GOD, yesterday I made a very poor life choice in the afternoon. I had t-w-e-l-v-e shots of espresso around 3pm on a completely empty stomach. Surprisingly I didn't have a tummy ache, but I was bouncing around until a good twelve hours later. I did start to feel better yesterday evening, though. Nothing calms a girl's nerves like watching Sex and the City 2 (and making fun of it the entire time), real frozen yogurt, and an impromptu Lady GaGa sing-along. I was sitting next to the most fabulous bitchy gay man at the movie. Ugh, he was so hilarious. Much more entertaining than the movie itself. Haven't seen the movie yet? Then don't read the article I'm about to share with you. Have you seen it? Then read this. It's really interesting to me. Anyway, I was feeling better yesterday but somehow in the beautiful morning everything is starting to look a tad bleak again. I'll see if I can't fix that with another twelve espresso shots ;)

That's all for now, my little darlings. Tell me, who has and loves Over the Taupe? Who isn't too crazy about it? If I had to choose one taupe in my collection to keep it would be not Over the Taupe but You Don't Know Jacques!; the former is nice nonetheless. This is actually the only polish I got from the Bright Pair collection, but I know a lot of people really liked it. Did you?

Wet n Wild Craze Shimmer Skittles

It's funny how fast the day progresses when you stay in bed until noon. It's one of those days, you guys. I considered not even getting out of bed but I figured that was just way too unhealthy and emo. Instead I'm stealing internet at a coffee shop and listening to Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog while I post. I've been in a total polish slump lately. I always want to wear the same one. I did, however, muster up the effort it took to swatch some of the new Wet n Wild Craze shimmers I found over dark blue. First, here's the blue.

This is Wet n Wild Craze Nocturnal, a release I'm sure we all remember from last summer. It's totally gorgeous, an inky blue-black that reminds me of that annoying stain you inevitably get on your white purse when your stupid Bic pen explodes at the bottom of it for no reason. I wanted to use black as the base for the shimmers, but I couldn't find mine. That's right, I own only one, sad, half-empty (half-full?) bottle of black nail polish. Isn't that terrible? Does anyone have any suggestions for an awesome one-coat black that isn't Chanel or super high-end? Wet n Wild seems like the obvious option.

Here are some of the shimmers that I've already shown you over Nocturnal. Thumb to pinky we have: Bora Bora, Kauai, Sumatra, Cozumel and Barbados.

I have posted on all of these shimmers previously except for Bora Bora (and you can click on the linked names above to take you to those posts). Funnily enough, it turned out that I liked Bora Bora the best over the blue, so my left hand looks all skittles-y and my right hand is just Nocturnal and Bora Bora. I doubt anyone will notice. I think that Kauai and Sumatra look super similar over a dark color, so if you're going to buy these little guys for layering you can probably just pick one of those to take home with you.

So, I said that I've felt like wearing the same polish over and over again. I'm not kidding. And here it is.

I've shown this one to you before, about two months ago. It's China Glaze Cherry Pie from the Summer Days collection. I had been lemming it for a while and I finally ran into it on clearance at Sally's. Oh, unspeakable joy. Seriously, every day this week except one I have redone my nails with Cherry Pie after swatchin' for the blog. The day I didn't was the day I wore Diddy Mow. I probably would have kept Diddy Mow on for longer but it chipped and peeled on me after a night at work. Oh well. Anyway, Cherry Pie (which always reminds me of Paparazzi--"loving you is cherry pie"--yikes) is incredible and I can't get enough of it. I'm so glad I have it. Its sparkle is out of control in sunlight. It makes me happy.

I don't want to depress anyone so I won't give you too many of my life details, but suffice it to say that I am very unhappy right now. Something weird happened with my scholarship to grad school and I haven't really been able to get ahold of anyone to ask questions. My job is kind of ridiculous right now and all of my inter-personal relationships are slowly being shot to shit, helped along a lot by me (ie, everything that's going on right now in that department is my fault). Do you ever have those moments where you're in the middle of a situation and you know--I mean, you just know--that you have to get out? But you can't? My name is Stephanie and I have a problem.

But you know what helps? China Glaze Cherry Pie. I'm going to go put it back on now.

Finger Paints Whose Hue?

Good morning everyone. Ugh, I had serious problems sleeping last night so I'm getting a late start today. I don't actually have to go anywhere until like 3pm, though, so at least that's good. Remember my tiny, sad Finger Paints purchase yesterday? I have one of those polishes to show you today.

So...this is nice...but it looks nothing on the nail like it looked in the bottle. See in the third picture how it kind of looks like a warm brown with purple shimmer? Here, let me show you a bottle picture.

This is what the bottle looks like in sunlight and mostly indoors.

Kind of weird, right? Anyway, I don't really like this type of color. In the sun it kind of reminds me of China Glaze Cowgirl Up, which is definitely a fan favorite from the Rodeo Diva collection. It's just not my thing. Pretty, though. Since I'm new to the brand I'll do a quick little review. As far as I know you can only get Finger Paints polishes from Sally Beauty Supply. They're normally $4.99, but this week they're running a deal where they're $3.99...and I think if you buy three you get something free. I'm not sure since I only bought two. For $4.99 you get .5 fl. oz. of polish, which is the same amount you get from OPI. Not bad. I'm not really crazy about the bottle, but that's not a big deal. The formula on this one wasn't bad...just a little thick. I would consider adding a drop or two of thinner to it if I were to ever use it again. Oh, I did like the brush, though. The shape of the cap made it really easy to handle and the brush wasn't too wide or too thin. Thumbs up.

As for the color of Whose Hue?, it's kind of a dark, vampy red-leaning purple with a lot of shimmer.

It's pretty, and I know lots of people who would like this one, but it's just not for me. I'm disappointed that the polish on the nail is so different from the polish in the bottle. It's totally weird...

Okay, that's all for today; I'm exhausted so I'm going to go relax with a huge cup of coffee. What do you guys think about Whose Hue? Have you ever had those experiences where polishes look totally different on the nail than in the bottle? Does anyone have any other Finger Paints recommendations for me? Spill.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Diddy Mow (!!!)

Well, it's 10:30am and I have already been to Ulta and Sally's. That's right; I'm feeling productive. And by "productive" I guess I mean I feel like spending money. I heard tell that some people had found the Essie summer collection at various Ultas so I figured I'd check it out. No luck. Then I went to Sally's because I was planning to haul Finger Paints. I had never really looked at the Finger Paints permanent display until yesterday, only the seasonal collections. Once I realized that all of the names were art-themed I knew I had to have them. Unfortunately I could only find two that I'm crazy about but that's better than none. Two polishes, however, does not a haul make.

Last night at midnight I decided to put on Rescue Beauty Lounge Diddy Mow, my third and last polish from my recent RBL order. Wanna see it? I betcha do...

I will start by telling you that none of my photos can do Diddy Mow justice. Actually, none of the photos I've seen of this polish do it justice. I was prepared to be kind of meh about it, but in actuality it's my favorite polish that I received in my order (the other two were Chinoise and Bikini Bottom, both longtime lemmings of mine). So the color...the color is strange. It's not quite green and it's not quite gray. It kind of looks like a pair of cargo shorts I remember my dad having in the early millennium; they were from The Gap and it looked like he washed them a thousand times (he did). Diddy Mow looks weathered and kind of washed out. The description on the website says this color is "a putty green, the color of sand through sea water, the moment before you eat it!" It has slight shimmer, too.

Here's a less-than-awesome macro. You can see the subtle shimmer here.

Let me rave about the formula for a second. This polish practically applied itself. It was incredible, definitely on par with any other Rescue Beauty Lounge polish that I've used. This was two coats, but if I had been careful in my application I would have been able to get away with one coat. Let's talk about the name, now. Apparently "diddy mow" is a surf term for a "harsh wipeout;" I was curious so I Googled it. The only place that I found diddy mow referring to surfing was when someone was talking about this Rescue Beauty Lounge collection. Otherwise, "diddy mow" apparently comes from the Vietnamese "di di mau," which means "go, go quickly" or "get out of here." A couple different sources confirm this. Strange, yes? I mean, I didn't look too hard, so maybe it's a surfing term too. I dunno. Maybe I'll have my boyfriend ask his surfer buddies.

Anyway, if you're even remotely interested in having Diddy Mow I suggest you order it. Seriously. Go fetch your purse, fish out your credit card, bite the bullet and click add to cart. You need this. Can you tell that I love it? I find it insanely flattering against my fair skin, but maybe that's just wishful thinking. I am so, so glad I own this one.

Okay, a couple things. A commenter named Emma asked yesterday why I don't have a search bar on my blog. Well, now I do. It's right under my archives and right above my blogroll. Wanna find somethin'? Search to your hearts' content. Thanks for the suggestion, Emma! I appreciate it. It had never really occurred to me that anyone would want to search my blog, but now ya can. Second, Ange-Marie of Scandalously Polished asked me where my ridiculous rings went. Remember when I was posting huge rings for a while? Well, I go through phases and I get tired of things quickly. My ridiculous ring phase is not over, just on hiatus. Now I'm onto buying ridiculous and semi-ridiculous sunglasses. For your viewing pleasure, here's another pair.

Love these. I got 'em at H&M about a month ago, but they were in the juniors' section. Sorry I look like a hot mess. I was on my way to work and I usually wear my hair in a loose braid like that. Oh, and let me rave for a second about the lipstick I'm wearing in that picture. It's Maybelline Color Sensational lipstick in number 535, Park Ave. Peach. It's definitely going to be my go-to for summer. Usually I wear Maybelline Warm Me Up (I don't know its number offhand) but I think this peach is nice and summery.

There's another sans sunglasses. Yo, sorry I look naked. I assure you I'm not. I've been going super light on the eye makeup lately...

Okay, ANYWAY now that I've blathered for a while...what do you guys think of Diddy Mow? I don't think I can say enough good things about it. Has anyone picked it up? Is anyone planning to? Also, does anyone have any Finger Paints recommendations for me? Seriously, I could only find two that I wanted. There was a third one called Curator's Crimson which I kind of wanted just for the name (I have wanted to be a museum curator since I was 12 and dammit, I'm on my way to doing it) but it was just a standard red creme so I didn't feel like I could justify the purchase. I'll show you the two I got tomorrow.

Alright, over 'n out. Thanks for reading, lovelies!

Rescue Beauty Lounge Bikini Bottom (!)

Good morning, little lovelies :) It's another perfect day here in Pleasantville; sunny, not a cloud in the sky and seventy-four degrees. I'm loving this weather right now. It kind of makes me want to bust out some neons, but...maybe next week. Today I've got another Rescue Beauty Lounge polish for you. It's one that I've wanted for quite a while; I'm not sure why I didn't just get it at the 50% off sale, but c'est la vie. I'm talking about Bikini Bottom from the 2008 pre-fall Spongebob-themed collection. This collection consisted of three colors--Bikini Bottom, Starfish Patrick and Square Pants--and all of them are jellies that are meant to be worn sheer. They are, however, buildable, and can be worn semi-opaque at four coats. First I'll show you Bikini Bottom as it's "meant" to be worn.

Here it is at two coats.

If you're into sheers then this might be enough for you. Actually, close-up I kind of like how this looks. The polish makes the tips of my nails look very white and crisp. But...from far away? Think about it. Two coats of Bikini Bottom basically gives your nails a slightly blue tint. I'm already very pale. If I walked around like this people would think I was dead. Zombie Stephanie. No. Not happening. So I added two more coats (which was my original intention anyway, I just wanted to show you guys how it would look as a sheer).

Four coats.

Ahhh, that's much better, yes? I'm definitely glad I picked this one up. There's something about Bikini Bottom that looks almost...retro to me. Vintage-y. Because it's a jelly it has this gorgeous squishy, watery quality to it. The weathered blue color just adds to that effect. The description of this shade on the Rescue Beauty website is as follows: "This watery pale blue is the perfect color to wear when you're visiting a metropolis under the sea. Or looking for the perfect shade to wear with milky neutrals."

I also did a layering experiment with good ol' Bikini Bottom. First I used three coats of Essie Marshmallow. If you can get it even, then Marshmallow is a great color to wear on its own, as a sheer or opaque. It's this gorgeous, soft jelly white. Mmm. Anyway, then I put on two coats of Bikini Bottom. Five coats of polish altogether! I think if I practiced my application of Marshmallow I could just use two of each; we'll see what happens next time.

There's not really a huge difference between the layered look and the non-layered look, but there's a difference nonetheless. The layered look is more opaque; it looks denser somehow, and the shade is lighter too. I prefer Bikini Bottom on its own at four coats, but I'm sure I'll wear it both ways.

I'm definitely glad that I picked up Bikini Bottom for myself. It still doesn't surpass my favorite Rescue Beauty Lounge polish, Starfish Patrick, but it's close. I'll have to post on Sfish P again sometime when it's sunny; my first post on it was during the eternal winter so I'm sure there was no sunshine. Alright, sound off: who loves Bikini Bottom? I know it's a fan favorite for a reason. Who's not so in love with it? Who doesn't have the patience to build up the opacity of this sheer? Let me know!

Rescue Beauty Lounge Chinoise (!!)

It has been sunny here! Sunny! And hot! And kind of humid! It's a welcome change from the gloom. I love waking up to sun streaming in through my window. And you know what else sun means? I can try out my new Rescue Beauty Lounge polishes!

This is almost too perfect for words...but you know me. I've got words for everything ;) Chinoise is a true red creme. The name means "Chinese" in French, which is probably a reference to its description on the Rescue Beauty Lounge website: "Dedicated to Diana Vreeland. Makes your nails look as if they've been lacquered like a Chinese screen. Drop-dead chic." Drop-dead chic, indeed. The color is just too gorgeous. And the application! The application was beyond perfect. This was two coats and they were so easy to apply. I don't know what it is about the RBL brush; it looks like a normal brush, but somehow it seems to do a better job than most. This would look great on toesies too, but right now I've got Grunge on my toes. Ew, how gross does that sound? Grunge on my toes.

I had heard this color referred to as something like "man magnet red." It's true. I got a lot of compliments on this color while I was wearing it yesterday, ranging from, "I like that nail polish," to "that's a beautiful color on you." And these were compliments from men. No women mentioned my polish. Isn't that the strangest thing? I can't comment on the wear because I only had this on for a day. I was sad to take it off but not too sad; I know I'll be wearing it a lot. It has kicked the ass of every other red I own. I'm so glad I picked this one up. Worth the $18? Honestly? Yup. I love it that much.

Hello, lover.

I am beyond thrilled with Chinoise. What do you guys think of it? Does anyone have it and love it? Does anyone have it and feel completely meh about it? Is Chinoise on anyone's list for the next Rescue Beauty Lounge sale? Spill.

In Which I Return To Canada

Ugh, will the sun ever come out again? The best the forecast gives me until a week from today is "partly cloudy." That's better than overcast, but I'm really growing tired of all of this rain. We got very little rain in April but May has been super wet and disgusting. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? Ah well.

So yesterday I totally got confuzzled about OPI Chocolate Moose. First I thought I may have sent it to PerryPie, but after she internet-laughed at me and told me she didn't have it I realized that I had actually sent her OPI Dulce de Leche. Honest mistake! Then I was wondering if I actually had Chocolate Moose at all. I went through my "to-wear" shoebox (yes, I keep my polishes in Steve Madden shoeboxes; wanna fight about it?) and couldn't find it. Hm. Maybe I had never actually bought it. Then I went through my storage drawers, and lo and behold there it was, sitting right next to Kreme de la Kremlin. I decided to give the little Moose some love.

with flash

This was three coats. In truth, I probably would have been okay at two. I was doing my nails in super low light, though, and I find that when I do that and I think two coats is enough, I almost always end up with bald patches. I erred on the side of caution just for the hell of it and added an extra coat. The formula on little Moose-y was top-notch. Even though it's from the Canadian collection of 2004 (?), it has technically made it into the permanent collection so it still has the pro-wide brush (yay!). This polish was truly a joy to apply.

When I first put this on I kind of hated it. I believe after I finished applying my Seche Vite I actually said, "ew," out loud. Throughout the evening I kept sneaking glances down at my hands, looking at my nails out of the corner of my eye. By the time I was ready for bed I was actually admiring the color. Dare I say...I think...I think it kind of suits me. It's a light brown with a touch of pink thrown in, and it really does remind me of chocolate pudding or chocolate mousse. Oh, I also chopped off my nails in preparation for wearing Rescue Beauty Lounge Chinoise. I feel like a red that punchy on longish nails looks kind of gaudy. I want to wear it when there's sun but I don't really know when that'll be. I'm itching to get it on, though. Is so purdy.

Aaaaanyway, does anyone else have Chocolate Moose? I feel like it's a polish that's pretty easily overlooked since it's part of the permanent collection and it's basically a neutral. Does it actually look good on me, or am I crazy? I definitely like it for now and I think I'll leave it on all day...

OPI At Your Quebec and Call (!) and a Tiny Haul

The temperature outside is absolutely perfect and lovely, but unfortunately there's no sunlight. I wanted to wait to wear At Your Quebec and Call until I had sun, but I was just too excited. I'll use it again during the summer and try to take better pictures of it, I promise.

with flash

pink, green and gold shimmer; lovely

This polish is certainly very, very pretty. I hadn't used an old formula skinny brush OPI in forever, so the application on this was nice. The formula was fantastic, if a little sheer, and although the brush is small it still got the job done nicely. I was prepared for the polish to be sheer, so I wasn't pissed off when I needed three coats to get it to be opaque and even. Somehow I actually think that this khaki-olive-brass color is really flattering on me.

At Your Quebec and Call comes from the Canadian collection; I'm not sure when that one was released...before 2005, I think, because that's when Japan was released, and those have the pro-wide brushes on them. I think there's only one other color that made it into the permanent collection from Canada, and that's Chocolate Moose. I used to have that one but I think I may have sent it to PerryPie. I can't remember. Another favorite from that collection is Glacier Bay Blues, since discontinued along with At Your Quebec and Call. Anyway, I'm so glad I finally have this little gem, so thanks again, Ange. It definitely did not disappoint...but it definitely doesn't surpass Wagon Trail. Not for me, at least.

Remember the other day when I said I wanted to haul from Rescue Beauty Lounge? It's the weirdest thing. One second I was on the website, just looking. Then all of a sudden I was adding polishes to my cart. Before I knew it I was holding my credit card. Then I had an order confirmation in my inbox. How did that happen? Yesterday I came home to the cutest little package.

Wrapped in rescuebeauty.com paper! Aw, cute. My last RBL order didn't have this, presumably because it was from the 50% off sale and they didn't have time to wrap stuff.

Pretty little blue and brown boxes, all in a row.

Chinoise, Bikini Bottom, Diddy Mow

Yep, there they are.

Whenever I'd tell any of my bloggy friends which RBLs I was lemming they'd always say, "You can probably skip Chinoise." But I couldn't. I just couldn't not have it. I can feel myself entering a red phase and this red creme just looks too perfect. I've wanted Bikini Bottom ever since I saw Scragie's post where she layered it over Essie Marshmallow. It looked amazing. Plus I loved Starfish Patrick so much that I felt I just needed to have Bikini Bottom as well. And Diddy Mow? Well, that just speaks for itself. It's gorgeous...in the bottle, at least. I hope it doesn't turn out like No More War on me, ie gross. BY THE BY: is anyone interested in swapping somethin' for No More War? I think I might want to get rid of it.

So yeah, there's the evidence that for about twenty minutes I lost my mind. I bought three Rescue Beauty Lounge polishes at full price for absolutely no reason. If you want any of these lovelies, visit rescuebeauty.com. The customer service is ridiculously awesome. I ordered the polishes at 10:30am and I got shipping confirmation an hour later. Kind of incredible. I got the package two days later. So thanks Ji! You're awesome.

Anyway, what do you guys think about At Your Quebec and Call? Do you have any of these RBL polishes? Got any other RBL recommendations? Who knows, I could lose my mind again before too long.

In Defense of a Dear Old Friend

Today I've got a post that was inspired by one of my dearest bloggy buddies, Ange-Marie over at Scandalously Polished. A couple days ago I came home from work to find that she had posted something just for little ol' me. Wanna see it? Click here. In her post she talked about how meh she was feeling about China Glaze Wagon Trail. Now, I don't know if I have flat-out said this--I've beat around the bush a few times like, "Wagon Trail is in my top 5 favorite polishes"--but Wagon Trail is my Favorite Nail Polish Of All Time. Yes, it gets capitalized. What do I mean by that? I mean that if I had to get rid of every single polish that I own and only keep one, it would be Wagon Trail. It's one of two polishes that I own a backup bottle of. I knew I needed one. Why do I love it so?

Well, just look at it. Now, I don't discriminate against polishes; holos, glitters, shimmers, cremes, nudes, sheers, I'll wear 'em all. My one true love, though, are vampies. I love wearing black and "almost black" shades. I really like a lot of shades that I feel like some bloggers don't because they look so dark all the time (OPI Black Cherry Chutney, anyone?). Wagon Trail is so amazing because--and yes, I admit it--it does look nearly black indoors and in the shade.

Here it is indoors.

You can see that it does appear to be "almost-black," but it's still tinged with kind of an olive cast. So what's Wagon Trail's deal, anyway? It's a black base with a lot of shimmer. Its shimmer is predominantly gold, but there is also some green and red thrown in. The gold plus the black gives the appearance of the polish being olive green sometimes. That's what's so awesome about it.

There's a nice macro. I mean, c'mon. This is gorgeous. In the sunlight Wagon Trail also has that lit from within thing going on where it kind of looks like it's glowing in the middle of the nail and blacker around the edges. It's just stunning and I can't stop looking at my hands while I'm wearing it. And I wear it a lot. Hence the backup bottle. What's that? You wanna see it again? Okie.

Ooohhh, be still my heart. It's goin' pitter patter. Now, let's talk about where Wagon Trail came from for a sec. China Glaze's fall 2008 collection Rodeo Diva. Holy shit, if that wasn't like the best collection of all time I don't know what can top it. It has brought me so many gorgeous polishes. Red Stallion. Side Saddle. Midnight Ride. Branding Iron. Gussied Up Green. Golden Spurs. Prize Winning Mare. And oh, did I mention Wagon Trail? Almost every polish in that collection is incredible. I have a lot more readers now than when I did my long-ass Rodeo Diva review, but I found the entire collection in a dusty in either late January or early February. I wore every polish from the collection over the next two weeks and I blogged about each of them. If you wanna see that, check the February archives.

What I'm basically saying is that I love everything about Wagon Trail, from its provenance to its appearance. I love its formula too, but make sure to wait at least thirty seconds between coats or you'll get cuticle drag. I used two coats for the manicure above, plus one coat of Seche Vite. This is my favorite way for my nails to look. Period. I love it.

Now, Ange-Marie and I have talked many times about polishes that we dearly want. We once exchanged names of discontinued OPIs that we would be willing to shove old ladies for. One of mine was At Your Quebec and Call from OPI's Canada collection. It's a shimmery olive green, slightly blackened, that I have been looking for forever. Ange very rightly called it Wagon Trail's kissin' cousin. At the end of her post to which I linked you above she revealed that she found At Your Quebec and Call in a dusty and that she was SENDING ME A BOTTLE. I came home to a little package last night when I dragged myself back into the house around 1am.

Look at that little beauty. Hello, lover. So Ange, dear Ange, thank you. Thank you so much for sending me this little gem that I've wanted for so long. Thank you for inspiring me to bust out Wagon Trail yet again.

Now, what do you guys think about Wagon Trail? Most of the people who commented on Ange's post didn't like it, which I found really surprising. Do you like it? Do you have it? Are you looking for it? Spill.