RAOK do exist-and oh yeah-Fingers is back people!!

In my mind I picture my fans pondering about whether or not I'm dead or whether I gave up blogging. All sorts of scenarios have been going through my head.  Even ones where no one even cares if me and my funkys come back or not.  I try not to think about that too much!  I did get a couple of messages from people wondering if I was ok.

I know my last post was cryptic and it will remain so.  My life took a huge hit and I was gone longer than I thought, but it's hard to keep me down for long!  Just know that I am doing ok and am back to my regular scheduled programming.  I hope you are as excited as I am!

I must confess that even though I had posts up through April 2, I have actually had naked nails since March 25!  That made me start wondering if I was going to get kicked out of this crazy membership we call polish addiction!  So have a little compassion when you see the pictures ok?  I do have a little something up my sleeve for an upcoming post. You are not going to believe the truths that will be busted into lies and myths.

Now onto the post for today.  Back before my life took a break, I was emailed by a totally random person claiming they had a bottle of Clarins 230 they wanted to sell me.  Now my first thought was why me?  My second thought was what's the catch and I'm not stupid enough to fall for this.

Her response was that she had seen a comment I had left on a blog post from January 2012 when Chalkboard Nails did a post on it.  This person wanted this bottle to go to someone who really wants it.  I have to say I was very skeptical and my friends said don't do it.  I have to admit that I am the person who believes everyone is lying to me.  I am that kind of person.  But for some reason, I really believed what she was saying.  We did email each other quite a few times and it was nice that she understood my skepticism.  We finally decided on an arrangement that we both agreed to. It was a nail biting time for me, but then my package arrived.

Here is what was in it.

Oh yes people!  It is the Holy Grail of the nail polish world.  Did you guess it from my hints on the last post? I bet most of you did!  This is THE Clarins 230.  My life is now complete.

Well of course not-it's not like a polish is the same as a man right?  That's a whole other story for another time.

Now that I have the Clarins, I thought I'd do what most people do and compare it to others so you can see why it's so awesome.

Here are the players.

This is Clarins 230, Max Factor Fantasy Fire, Girly Bits Shift Happens and BeYu 209.

I started with a plain old white polish. This happens to be Bettina Marshmallow without base or top coat.  I'm easing back in to the routine peeps!  Here is a shot of the white before.

Sun

Yup, just a plain old white.  Ignore the beat up nails please!

Here is a layer of each on the white.

Sun

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What the hell is this crap?  Why isn't it all pretty and shimmery?  This is the truth of these polish.  From left to right is Clarins 230, Max Factor, Girly Bits and BeYu.  You all know the Max Factor has a blue base and the BeYu is heavier on the red base.  You can barely see the shimmer here.

Next I did the same thing with blue. I used OPI Eurso Euro.  Here is a plain shot of it before.

Sun

This is the first time I've worn this.  It's similar to Revlon Royal.  Next I added a layer to it.

Sun

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Now that's more like it.  This is the same order as before.  Clarins 230, Max Factor, Girly Bits and BeYu.  You can clearly see the differences here.  Look how much gorgeous shimmer is in the first Clarins. Stunning. Similar to the BeYu, but again the BeYu is redder.  Here is where the blue base of the Max Factor doesn't help at all.  Note there is hardly any shimmer there.  The Girly Bits has a little as well.

Now for the last one, I did the color it's intended to be paired over.  Black. I used my fave, Orly Liquid Vinyl.  Here is a shot of it alone.

Sun

Next I added the layers as before.  Here they are.

Sun

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Sun

Stunning no?  Now you can see there really is no huge difference when paired over black.  This reminds me of my new Chanel Malice I wore for you recently.

Am I happy to have this Clarins 230?  You bet I am!  I didn't pay an exorbitant price for it and it made me realize there are people out there who truly do random acts of kindness.  That means a lot to me. It has restored some faith back in my soul.

In reality though, it's more a status symbol to own this right?  I mean as I've just proven to you there is no huge difference between the high dollar Clarins as the cheaper versions.  It also has that stinky old school chemical formula to it as well!

I want to say a sincere thank you to Pee Dub Cee, who is the person who made this all happen.  I truly appreciate you!

I'm also glad to be back and I hope you are happy to have me back!

Do you think Clarins 230 is worth it? Or is it more a status symbol to own it?

Until next time people.  Any thoughts out there?

Uninvited and Unwanted

Hey guys! The last few posts that I had predone have now run out. Unfortunately, something rather serious has come up in my life and I have to take an unwanted break for a few days. My plan is to be out no longer than a week, but that may be optimistic.

I just wanted to let you know so you wouldn't worry about me!

Believe me, when I do come back, you're not going to want to miss the beauty I have acquired for myself.  Here's a hint- it's the Holy Grail of the polish world.

Know what it is?

Stay tuned to see if you're right!

Sticks and Sticks

The saying goes sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me.

What a load of crap right?  Any of us out there who has been picked on, knows this very well.  I'm wondering how and who came up with this saying?  I'm sure if I were ambitious enough, I'd google it.  I'm just not that curious I guess.

I get that it probably means names will never physically hurt you like sticks and stones. I never did like this saying.  When I was a kid, I was picked on big time.  I was the band/choir geek, not the jock that most of the school was.  I wore piano ties to go with my geekness.  I remember being picked on and you better believe it hurt.  Some of it is still with me today.

Why am I on this tear today?  No idea really, it just came to me as I was sitting here writing this post.

I decided it's been a while since I did a me mani.  What this means is a total brown fest just for me to enjoy.  Believe me, I needed this little pick me up.

Here is your silly bottle shot.

This is Rescue Beauty Lounge Decorous and Fortissimo.  Two of my favorite browns.

I started with Decorous and an accent of Fortissimo.  The sun was no where to be found. So you'll have to settle with inside shots.  Here they are.

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Decorous does have subtle shimmer in the sun, but it's hiding here.  Aren't these to die for?  I love this!

Next I stamped using plate Pueen05.  Here is that step.

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Now you get where the sticks and stones came from right?  I topped this off with my funky.  Here are the chocolicious results.  Yes I just made up a word.

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Close Up

Macro

Personally, I think this is very cool.  Then again, I did do this just for me to enjoy so of course I'd like it!

You other brown lovers out there-are you loving this too?  Brown lovers unite!!!!  HAHA!

Just trying to convert the world one mani at a time.

Until next time people.  Any thoughts out there?

Be Jolly

The sun was out and I was in a red mood so you all know what that means right?

It is snowing outside again. The calendar says it's Spring, but the weather has decided to do its own thing.  Hey that rhymes.  I'm a poet and don't know it.  HAHA!  Of course, I love the snow as you all know.  What's funny is there has been no snow all Winter and now that it's Spring, the snow's a flyin.  How's that for Murphy's Law?

All I know is that by tomorrow it'll all be gone.

I don't have any good stories to talk about today so let's just get on with it.

Here is your silly bottle shot.

This is Enchanted Polish Austin Powers and Bettina Be Jolly.  I was totally in a red mood today.

I started with a full mani using Jolly.  An after thought that I should have done an accent nail with Austin, but hindsight is 20/20 right?  Here is this glorious dusky pure red.

Sun

Sun

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I am totally in love with this red.  It's stunning to me.  I didn't want to cover this up too much and I was not in the mood for a lot of work so I simply dotted and funky'd with Austin.  Here are the results.

Sun

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Indoor Sun

Sun

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Indoor Sun

Close Up

Macro

Forgotten how gorgeous Austin is in the sun.  It's simply amazing.  I need to do a full mani so you can be blinded by bling!

Until next time people.  Any thoughts out there?