Closure... finally!

As some of you already know, I have been on a (somewhat) long quest to find an accurate "Tiffany blue" polish. I've bought ALL SORTS of colors and brands. Okay, no... I've stuck to those I feel safe with [OPI, Essie, Nfu Oh, and China Glaze]. But still, I'd like to think that I've expanded my horizons mostly because of this one particular challenge.

My search came to a halt when I realized I couldn't hardly give you the perfect "Tiffany blue" polish without something to base my findings on. I needed a Tiffany box! Well, I finally got one. And a bag. And a baggy. And another baggy:

Actually, I borrowed these from my aunt. I don't have any Tiffany jewelry, nor do I plan to buy any. I guess it isn't my style...

Does anyone else find it odd that the color of the Tiffany packaging is so varied. For being allegedly "copywrited" you would think they'd be more consistent across the board with their color ... I'm sure there is probably someone that would insist "They are all the same". Kind of like OPI's "My Private Jet". Haha.

Here are the polishes I've collected, plus a few I just threw in there for the sake of color comparisons:

I don't really have time to swatch these all individually for this post so here they are on a nail wheel. I think this works better anyways. You get to see them side-by-side!

I suppose you want to know what they are...

1- China Glaze "Turned Up Turquoise" (Neon. Doesn't show in photo.)

2- Nfu Oh #206

3- Essie "Turquoise & Caicos"

4- China Glaze "For Audrey"

5- Nfu Oh #394

6- Nfu Oh #172

7- Essie "Mint Candy Apple"

8- OPI "Hey Get In Lime"

9- OPI "Damone Roberts 1968"

Ready to see the results?

Nfu Oh #394 matches best with the box. It needs a touch of white to lighten it up but otherwise the color and hue are almost perfect!

How about that strangely green-ish bag?

Essie "Turquoise & Caicos" matches it to a "T". It is exactly the same color.

Below is a look at the colors side-by-side with a white background and also with a black one. Hope you enjoyed my post! I can finally sleep in peace!

Red My Fortune Cookie

OPI "Red My Fortune Cookie"

Here is a color from the recent OPI Hong Kong collection. This one is called "Red My Fortune Cookie". I really do love this red. It is bright, cheerful, and very classy. Sometimes after wearing all the crazy colors I have, I feel the need to just put something "normal" on my nails :) That's how I was feeling the day I swatched this polish. Application was wonderful. I still had to use 3 coats but they were smooth and easy to apply. This polish was pretty shiny too! I put on Seche Vite just to protect my manicure. I actually wore this color for a couple days!

Challenge (Book Cover)

Good morning everyone! I'm back with a new challenge! This week's theme is a book cover... any cover that you'd like!

This challenge is to be inspired by the book cover. Use colors, shapes, etc. that are found in its design. You may use elements/ideas found inside of the book (such as characters or things) but be sure that your nails are still inspired by the OUTSIDE! When you are done, photograph your nails with your book so we can see how the cover translates onto your nails.

Send me your "Book Cover" nail designs by Friday (7-02-10) at midnight (CST) to polishhoarder@gmail.com! Don't forget to add a link to your blog if you would like me to include it with your entry!

Preferred file size: 7" WIDE x 5.25" TALL @ 72 dpi

If you do not know how to crop and resize your image, let me know and I will gladly do it for you! It is better that I get a photo too large so I can minimize it to the size I need, rather than a photo too small. Photos that are smaller than the size I request will lose a lot of detail and become fuzzy when I enlarge them!

A big "Thank you" goes to Delaynee! She submitted this challenge idea to me!

Nfu Oh #531

Nfu Oh #531

Here is one of my recently acquired Nfu Ohs. This is #531.

#531 is a slightly unsaturated green. It is somewhat of an army green... This polish had amazing consistency. I used 2 coats but I think I could have gotten away with 1 if I'd polished under better lighting... As far as application goes, this is the best Nfu Oh polish I own. It doesn't hurt that I looooove the color, too :)

Look at the detailing on these Nfu Oh bottles. It's just adorable!

I've seen some other swatches online that show this color being much lighter. I was expecting it to be a light green, like the color of jade (the stone). It is obviously much darker than that. Gorgeous non the less...

More Nfu Ohs

Just a quick post to let you know I'm adding some more bottle photos to my Nfu Oh page! You can check it out by clicking the link on my navigation bar above!

Nfu Oh #393

Nfu Oh #393

This is 3 coats of Nfu Oh #393 with a layer of Seche Vite (to give it that smoooooth as glass finish, of course)


Yah, you do see 2 different colors here... in some lighting it looks as it does above and in others it looks like shown below. Don't worry. Either way, it is gorgeous!

It's kind of a Robin's Egg blue... Maybe? It definitely has a greenish hue when compared to other blues. Look below:

[What's With The Cattitude , Just Groovy , Ogre The Top Blue , 393]

See what I mean? Greenish. But definitely blue. And definitely not Tiffany blue... it's way too blue for that.

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Aqua?

What do you think?

Nfu Oh #38

Nfu Oh #38 (Opal Flakes)

I was itching to use #38 again (It's probably been almost a year since the last time I did). I think it looks great over a french manicure but my teeny bottle of white Konad Special polish is almost empty so I opted to use pink instead! It's funky, fun, and perfect for summer!

Start with a blank nail. Then, stamp from Konad plate M19:

I always thought that this image was hard to work with... but actually, no! It's not at all! The trick is to line the stamp up with the "smile line" of your nail (where the nail bed turns into the white tip). If it doesn't completely cover the nail tip, just stamp over it again until it does! So easy...

Look! Easy enough to do all 10 nails! (Another helpful tip: raise fingertips to eye-level when stamping, so you can see what you are doing! Then start at the side of your nail that is furthest from you and roll the stamp towards you. Did you get all that? Hope so!)

Sorry that my nails are slightly discolored. I don't have a good base color for french manicures. Any suggestions? Preferably OPI...

After you stamp, you should apply a top coat. I used Seche Vite. It worked pretty well... No smudging. The only problem I had was with my right hand. I must have been pressing the brush too hard because it picked up and replaced some pink polish where it shouldn't have (index finger).

After everything has dried, put on #38:

Pretty!

Vamp Tips

I felt the need to do something different and this is what happened:

I wanted to create the illusion that my nail beds formed a point. Kinda creepy... but kinda cool! They look like reversed vamp nails! Maybe I was subconsciously inspired by the recent premiere of the 3rd season of True Blood or maybe the newest movie in the Twilight series (also the 3rd...). Whatever it was, it worked! I like this.

Notice the black line. Without it, the manicure looks very unfinished.

Skin toned color- OPI "Canberra't Without You"

(topped with Essie "Matte About You" to reduce shine)

Dark Red- OPI "We'll Always Have Paris"

Black line- Stripe Rite (Black)

How do you feel about it?

I think it looks pretty good. I just wish I'd had a darker flesh tone color to match my skin better!

Challenge Suggestions!

Good morning everyone! :)

Sorry to do this to you, but there will be no challenge this week... I'm sorry! I've got 2 reasons:

• I've been having a brain fart lately and can't think of a good theme. Sounds lame but it's true! (I've been obsessing over having a black/white/gray theme but we JUST did a colored challenge so I wanted something more creative)
• I'll be out of town Friday and Saturday so putting together the challenge gallery would be problematic.

The challenge will be returning next Monday though! BUT... before then, I'd like some suggestions from you! What would you like to see as a nail design theme? Any specific colors? Motifs? Materials? Give me your ideas! :) Thanks a lot guys! Can't wait to see what you come up with!!

Current Nfu Oh Inventory

I've put together some photos of my Nfu Oh polishes for you to use as a color reference. Ideally, I'd like to get these all re-swatched and photographed but who knows how long that'll take! So in the meantime, here are images of my bottles of Nfu Oh. Enjoy!

[If you were wondering... Nfu Ohs can be purchased from Fabuloustreet.com]

P.S. I've created a link to this post which can be found on my navigation bar above. It is titled "Nfu Oh". This will make for quicker access to this information in the future :) I will also be adding more bottles as I order them! Hope you find this helpful!

My Analogous Nails- Take 2

This is the 2nd idea I came up with for my "Analogous" challenge. I chose colors completely opposite than the first set, which was yellow and green...

Red Color- OPI "Red My Fortune Cookie"

Red-Purple Color - OPI "All That Razz-berry"

Purple Image- Konad plate M25 (in Violet Special Polish)

They are kind of boring... I don't think the stamped image is bold enough for such strong colors. I really do love this color combination though. I'm totally going to be in the Red Hat Society when I get old...

Challenge Gallery- Analogous

Good morning everyone! We had another successful turnout for this week's nail design challenge! Yay! I was really beginning to worry because many of you were having troubles with the colors being so close together. We all got it accomplished though :) Let's see the entries!

[In the order which I received them]

Milan and Vanaily:

Spark Leigh:

Love & Polish:

Kitschy Suburbia:

Polish And Powder:

Leanne's entry:

Dee's Polish Endeavours:

LiliLipstick:

Tigirlyly Konadicures:

Bethaniee's Nails:

Little Bottles Of Happiness:

My Simple Little Pleasures:

Art Of Nail:

Fab Ur Nails:

My Nail Polish Addiction:

Enamel Girl:

Borricua's entry:

Running With Polish:

Nail Addicts Anonymous:

Stephanie's entry:

Pink Nail:

Lacquer Lover:

Finally,

My 2 entries for this week :)

Thanks for all of your hard work ladies! This one was tough! I appreciate you all finding time to complete the challenge and send me your photos! My challenges wouldn't be anything without you all! :) Have a lovely Saturday!!