July | 2010 | Polish Police 2010 July | because bad nail polish is a crime against humanity

July, 2010

MUGSHOT: MAC On The Prowl (updated)

July 19, 2010 by pam

Hello Kitty and I have a love-hate relationship.

When I was a kid, I absolutely adored her. Gift Gate was my mecca, Sanrio was my drug (along with Russ Trolls, but that’s another story). I had Hello Kitty everything – stationery, stickers, toys, towels, bags, candy.

Then I turned into a teenager, got a little angsty, started hating everything pink and cutesy – including Hello Kitty. I thought there was no place in my life for the girly furball.

Strangely, now that I’m an adult, I’ve learned to love pink again (one of my prized possessions is my pair of hot pink patent Doc Martens). As for Hello Kitty? She and I are friends again. I’m not obsessed with her, I no longer collect Sanrio stuff but I’ve managed to find her cute again.

I found out about MAC’s Hello Kitty Collection too late and was heartbroken because I really really really wanted to get my hands on MAC On The Prowl.

And over the years, I’ve come to learn that if you really really really really want something and believe you can get it, you probably will.

Thanks to awesome Ashley, I managed to get a bottle of MAC On The Prowl.

And I love it.

MAC On The Prowl is a medium grey. It took three coats to get it fully opaque – my manicurist was going to go for two but my OCD kicked in and I asked for another since the polish still looked a little streaky to me.

I’ve had On The Prowl on my nails for over a day now and I just can’t stop staring at it. I love it – I love it even more than I love China Glaze Recycle and that says a lot because I love China Glaze Recycle a lot.

Recycle isn’t an On The Prowl dupe and neither is American Apparel Factory Gray. Recycle is darker and Factory Gray is darker and a little more purple. And I’m kind of glad because that justifies owning them all.

On The Prowl isn’t the end of my gray polish obsession though – I still have Zoya Kelly coming and my search for Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Wet Cement is far from over.

*update*

Because people keep complaining about MAC’s formula, I was ready for quick chipping. This mani would have to be changed soon, I thought, because it wouldn’t last long on my nails.

But, surprise surprise! It’s day four and look:

Absolutely no chips.

I’m surprised. Pleasantly so.

And in other news, I’m in love with my new ring.

Absolutely in love.

Category mug shot | Tags: creme,gray,hello kitty,mac,mac on the prowl,nail polish,on the prowl | 10 Comments
MUG SHOT: Skittles!

July 18, 2010 by pam

Last week, Sol dared a bunch of us to do a Skittles mani. She did hers. Sheila did hers. Smile did hers but I couldn’t.

I was too in love with GOSH Rainbow to take it off. (Speaking of GOSH, Smile has opened the GOSH polish pre-order on her website so go go go) But when Rainbow finally chipped and I was ready for a change, my sweet package from Ashley arrived and I thought, uh oh, there go the Skittles. How can I think about Skittles when I was going crazy trying to figure out which MAC polish to wear first?

But yesterday, the day I was supposed to get my nails done, my cupcake partners decided they wanted us to create four new cupcake flavors. FOUR! So yes, no spa appointment for me. It would have been insane to get my nails done and then spend the day in the kitchen, whipping butter into submission and washing a whole load of mixing bowls.

Then it hit me! I could do a quick Skittles mani and take pictures of it before we started baking. So while my partners were still watching Cupcake Wars, I snuck off to the bathroom and did my Skittles.

With flash:

My Skittles mani was inspired by Skittles’ original flavor, a pack of which I ate last week. Actually no, I just ate the purple ones.

The plan was to use a different brand for each color but since I didn’t have all my polishes on hand so I had to go for just two.

Not that I minded, since Zoya and OPI are fairly easy to work with – especially for a mani idiot like me.

I wanted to use Chanel Dragon for red but it was too dark so I went for Zoya America instead.

I like America – I think it’s pretty.

For orange, I used Zoya Paz. Because Paz is a crazy neon and neons dry matte, I had to use a top coat.

For yellow, I used Zoya Pippa. Then I changed my mind, removed it and tried Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lightening. But I changed my mind again and went back to Zoya Pippa. I love Zoya Pippa, I’d like to wear Pippa as a full mani soon.

For green, I used OPI Green-wich Village. Then I changed my mind and went for Who The Shrek Are You? but it just didn’t go with the rest of the colors – it was too slimy. So I went back to Green-wich Village. I guess when it comes to Skittles, you need to trust your first instinct.

For purple, I used OPI Funky Dunkey.

I only did one hand and I spent the rest of yesterday baking with one Skittles hand and one bare hand. It was cool though – I made swiss meringue frosting for the first time and it was beautiful.

Doing the Skittles was fun, as fun as making swiss meringue frosting. I might do M&Ms next.

Category mug shot | Tags: america,funky dunkey,green,green-wich village,opi,orange,paz,pippa,purple,red,skittles,yellow,zoya | 8 Comments
POLICE FILES: First swap (Dear Ashley, you rock)

July 17, 2010 by pam

MakeUpAlley swaps to me were like roller coasters. Fun, but for other people.

Sure, getting packages in the mail is awesome but that just sounds like too much work, I told myself.

But MAC On the Prowl happened.

I was going through the polishes up for swapping on the site (the MUA equivalent of window shopping) and I found MAC On the Prowl. Yes, MAC On the Prowl. Yes, Hello Kitty On the Prowl. The gray polish that intensified my gray obsession because I couldn’t get my hands on it. The polish I missed buying because it came out in the dark ages – otherwise known as the period before I discovered the magic of MAC.

My heart started beating faster but I told myself to calm down. I didn’t want to get my hopes up only to be told by the swapper that she doesn’t do international swaps.

But the awesome Ashley (who has well over a hundred swap tokens) responded quickly and told me she was game.

She wanted to do a multiple swap, she said.

She wanted NARS, I wanted MAC. And so we swapped.

On a beautiful Thursday, the package arrived.

I showed no restraint. I tore into it immediately.

This photo doesn’t show it (in my excitement I removed all the bubble wrap too fast) but Ashley packed each polish really carefully. They were so safe and snug in the box that breakage was impossible.

These were the polishes included in our swap.

Baby Goth Girl, Dark Angel, Nocturnelle, Seasonal Peach, On The Prowl, Rougemarie, Blue India

But that’s not all. Because awesome Ashley slipped a bunch of sweet extras in my package, including Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue which has been on my wishlist for ages.

And thanks to this swap, I got my first backup – another bottle of Blue India because I love this polish so much I’m afraid of running out of it.

And finally, here is MAC On The Prowl.

She is as pretty as I hoped she would be.

Thank you, Ashley, for the fantastic package and for making my first swap absolutely perfect.

If I get hooked on swapping, it will be because of Ashley.

Want to try swapping? Visit MakeUpAlley. Want to swap with awesome Ashley? Check out her swap items here.

Category police files | Tags: baby goth girl,blue india,dark angel,gray,hello kitty,mac,makeupalley,nocturnelle,on the prowl,pacific blue,package,rougemarie,sally hansen,seasonal peach,swap | 8 Comments
MUG SHOT: Zoya Raven + Gosh Rainbow

July 12, 2010 by pam

I can’t remember where I first saw Gosh Rainbow (maybe Flickr or a nail blog) but I remember being wowed.

Immediately, I knew I wanted it. I put it on my wishlist – both on this blog and on MakeUpAlley.

Weeks later, someone sent me a message on MUA, telling me she can get Gosh Rainbow for me and we can swap. But that swap didn’t pan out.

A couple of weeks later, the awesome Smile posted this message on my Wishlist page:

“Cross out your GOSH RAINBOW sis! he he he”

You know what happened next.

I spent Sunday afternoon at a spa, playing with Gosh Rainbow.

For my manicure, I had it painted over Zoya Raven.

I love it. I love love love love love it.

I can’t stop staring at my nails.

When painted over black, Gosh Rainbow’s flakes turn into amazing green, gold and orange flecks.

For my pedicure, I had it painted over Butter London’s Artful Dodger. And over this dusty light blue, the flakes look pinkish gold, almost like I’ve just stepped into a puddle of fairy dust.

Sigh. Gosh Rainbow is serious love.

Thank you, Smile.

Want your own Gosh Rainbow? Smile is accepting orders. Visit her online store Updated Trends.

Category mug shot | Tags: black,flakies,gosh,gosh rainbow,rainbow,zoya,zoya raven | 11 Comments
MUG SHOT: Zoya Veruschka

by pam

Because I am a big idiot sometimes, when I first ordered my Matte Velvets (which were also my first Zoyas, incidentally), I decided not to get Veruschka.

“A green matte? Yuck. Who needs that?” I thought.

So my Matte Velvets – Loredana, Dovima, Posh, Savita and Harlow – arrived. And then – BAM! – a few weeks later, I was absolutely in love with green nail polish.

Naturally, my bad decision haunted me. I needed Veruschka.

She was late to my Matte Velvet party but it didn’t matter. She’s become my favorite of the lot.

And Veruschka saved my ass (my nails, actually) last Sunday.

I arrived from my week-long trip last Friday and wanted to get my nails done immediately. I couldn’t, it just didn’t make sense, because I was going to spend Saturday baking cupcakes for a baptism reception on Sunday and all the dish-washing would surely ruin my manicure. The reception was at lunch and we promised ourselves we’d spend Sunday afternoon at the spa. But how can I show up to the baptism with horrible-looking nails? I had to do a quick mani on my own, something that can tide me over until my spa appointment. For that, I needed good polish, one that would be easy to apply, one that would look good with the dress I was planning to wear.

Enter Zoya Veruschka.

I did my nails at around three in the morning, just after we finished baking. Thanks to Veruschka’s quick drying time, I still had the chance to eat a chicken sandwich and watch an episode of Cupcake Wars before hitting the sack.

So yes, Veruschka, I love you.

In the other less happy side of the Matte Velvet spectrum, my bottle of Harlow is missing and that annoys the hell out of me because I never got the chance to use it.

If you want your own Veruschka, check out OrganicRituals Spa. Organic Rituals Spa sells Zoya polishes at P380 each and they accept pre-orders. Visit Organic Rituals Spa at the Mezzanine Floor of Atlanta Centre 31 Annapolis St. Greenhills San Juan. The spa is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Mondays to Saturdays and by appointment on Sundays. Call 661-3101.

Category mug shot | Tags: green,matte,zoya,zoya veruschka | 13 Comments