September 6, 2008
New Nail Blog: Perfectly Polished Tips
Tink, writer of Perfectly Polished Tips, is after my own heart. She RAOK’d me the much beloved and, for me, much sought after white version of OPI Bubble Bath. More importantly, I love her site. She covers new collections and celebrity trends, plus she has awesome nails. <3 She did use Zulu for a franken… but oh well… no one is perfect. Haha. : P
August 21, 2008
New Nail Blog Alert: The Nailphile
Siobhan, one of my favorite MUA girls and one of the creators of the million lemming march to my nail polish wish list, has launched a new nail polish blog, cleverly dubbed The Nailphile. (I’m so jealous of girls who come up with creative names for their blogs – the boyfriend always makes fun of me for the lack of creativity in the title “The Polish Addict”. *Sigh*, I guess, at least, it’s functional.) Siobhan practically has a warehouse full of polish and she tends to grow her nails out really long – a rarity in our world, especially because she’s all natural. Her nail length is an incredible feat all in itself. She recently had a break and for that, my heart goes out to her – we’ve been break free here on the Polish Addict for a while but we know the pain oh so well. I know she’s bummed about her new length but she has great images and insightful entries regardless. I love her and the new blog, I know you guys will too.
Image from Cute Overload.
August 20, 2008
Public Service Announcement: Color Clubs Are Finally Up for Sale
8ty8beauty has *finally* put the fall Color Clubs up for sale. Follow these links to see my swatches of the Glitter Vixen Collection and the Musique Collection.
July 31, 2008
New Nail Blog Alert: The Crystal Files
My girl Hillary from MUA is starting up a new nail blog, The Crystal Files. There’s so much out there in terms of nail polish so it’s really great that the nail polish blogging community is growing. Hill is an especially excellent addition because her taste in nail polish is the anti-thesis of mine & Scrangie’s – so if you love pink, red, and shimmah, she’s the perfect blogger for you. She already has an excellent post on the continuation of last year’s navy trend, complete with color suggestions. <3
Image from Cute Overload.
July 26, 2008
Link Wrap Up (Oh who am I kidding, I don’t do this weekly.)
Scrangie swatches one of my hugest lemmings Dior Liquorice.
Misa Masa has great news for those of us who are not fortunate enough to own the coveted OPI Hollywood and Wine.
Nail Juice gives us some details about the OPI France Collection.
I’ve converted Sminkan into an Adoree fan…. I think… I wish I could read Swedish instead of just admire her pretty swatches. (Sminkan also found an overseas website that carries these polishes for those of you who can’t order from the U.S.)
Steph’s Closet reports on OPI’s upcoming 90210 Collection.
July 6, 2008
Liiiiiink Wrap Up
Scrangie, who’s been kicking my butt in the swatching department lately : P, shows us the brand spanking new Essie Fall 2008 collection. *sees wallet shriveling up and dying…*
Steph’s Closet compares swatches of recent yellows (China Glaze Solar Power, Rescue Beauty Lounge Yellow Fever, and Mac Phosphor) and reviews Sally Hansen’s recent metallic collection.
Blogdorf Goodman takes the plunge into nail art (watermelon… mmm cuteness) and discusses top coats and base coats.
Casual Lavish uses konad to create a really great independence day mani and gives us an easy to do nail art water-coloring tutorial.
July 1, 2008
Stop Stealing My Images
This message is, of course, not targeted to my loyal readers. But in the past week, I’ve had my images used on ebay twice. In response to these recent events I’ve put up a Licensing Agreement that governs the content of the Polish Addict as well as a page for my Contact Information.
And to my loyal readers, you guys have been really great about alerting me to content and image theft. I want to give you guys my sincerest thanks for that. Please continue keep an eye out for me. I really appreciate the effort on my behalf.
(Apparently the other blog’s use of my image without my permission was accidental and a misunderstanding. I should have found out all the facts before getting so angry and aggressive towards another blogger. I apologize. Everything is all worked out now and I want to thank Vania of Comme il Faut for being so considerate of my wishes and linking back to me. And again, other bloggers have permission to use my work as long as I get credited for it via a link.)
June 15, 2008
Long Over Due Link Wrap-Up
Well first, there’s no point in linking to a specific article, just read Scrangie’s entire blog.
15 Minute Beauty Fanatic gives us some tips on how to do a perfect post-mani clean up and swatches of the Essie Neon Shorts collection.
Necessary Makeup reviews Incoco Dry Nail Applique Strips.
Nails of the Day shows us the difference between the seemingly similar OPI She’s Golden and OPI Oh So Glam!
See the waaaay to expensive Chanel Robertson Blvd. Collection on Ballz and Thinner.
And finally the new Dior Golden Nugget on Steph’s Closet.
June 2, 2008
Win 44 Bottles of Rescue Beauty Lounge Nail Polish
Yup, you read that right, check it out at allure.com
This is serious. 44 bottles of Rescue Beauty Lounge is pretty much all I’ve ever wanted out of life. I’m thinking I might have to resort to some of the ol’ folk magic from the mother country so as to increase my chances of winning this giveaway. My mom told me something once about breaking a double yolked egg over an upside down straw broom… or something. Ok maybe not, but Animal sacrifice would help for sure, right? Geez, I can’t hurt animals… a giant can of chicken breast from Costco that my mom bought for me when I first left home 6 years ago and has been sitting in my cupboard since then… would that be ok? Maybe sacrifice goat cheese instead of a whole living goat? Ugh, where’s a first-born when you need one.
Ok – I know what I have to do.
Hand Turkey.
You have served me well throughout elementary school as my Thanksgiving Day art project. Yes, indeed, many gold stars have resulted from your efforts on my behalf. Remember that year when I drew you and your entire turkey family? Hours of staring down at my hands to create that masterpiece, perhaps, was the genesis of my current love, nail polish. But now, it is time for you to fulfill a greater destiny. You will be sacrificed to the nail polish gods so that the evil Ji Baek, arbiter of expensive polishes, may bestow upon me a most amazing bounty. Hand turkey, you will be missed.
Hand Turkey
RIP
1990 – 2008
May 29, 2008
Strange Nail Polish Advertisements
Some nail polish brands like OPI have consistently excellent marketing and advertisements. OPI ads always have one classy very beautiful model with very well manicured visible nails – simple and chic.
Then… some… brands… well I just don’t know.
Polish Addict’s Exhibit 1: CND Plexi Pop Collection.
I don’t get this advertisement. Actually, I don’t get this entire collection. What exactly is a plexi? Do they mean plexi as in ‘plexi glass’? Is it called plexi pop because it’s like colored glass? If that’s the concept… then what’s up with the Jetsons styled model? Does plexi glass relate in some way to bad futuristic make up and hair? This promotional image doesn’t make me want to buy nail polish. It makes me bitter that it’s 2008 and we still don’t have flying cars.
Exhibit 2: Orly Love Collection
Plexi pop is a failed marketing concept but it was a good try. The ad for the Orly Love Collection, on the other hand, is an example of how some people are just plain bad at their jobs. I’m not a make-up girl, so I’m not really qualified to pass judgment, but really, this model looks hideous. Did it really not occur to anyone at any step in the creation of this abomination that this make-up is ugly? I mean… first the make up artist, the photographer, the lighting person, the set designer, the person who edited the image… the execs who agreed that this image was THE ONE for this ad – is it really possible that, no one, n-o o-n-e along the way was like, “hey Bob, you know, maybe… maybe we shouldn’t use this ad. This girl… she doesn’t really look like she’s in love, unless being in love makes you look like you’re dying of hypothermia.” Take my criticism with a grain of salt because, like I said, make up isn’t my beat. I do know nails though, and I don’t like the nails in this ad either. They just look bad. The color looks fine but the shape and curvature of the nail bed is unattractive and weird. Get. A. Hand. Model. Orly, c’mon, you can do better.
And finally, Exhibit #3.
I lol every time I see the We Adorn You ad. I don’t want to give China Glaze a hard time because usually they have excellent promotional images. This ad is definitely an aberration, but wow, when advertising goes wrong, it really goes wrong. I get the concept here. “We Adorn You”, so we need an image of pampered, well-groomed women in China Glaze nail polish – ok, solid up to that point. The wrong turn occurred when China Glaze decided it would be a good idea to hire a porn industry hair and make-up artist for this shoot. I mean no offense to these three models, they’re beautiful, but this ad looks like it could be interchangeable with a softcore porn video cover or something else equally cheesy. I actually have a sneaking suspicion that China Glaze might have recycled a harlequin romance novel cover for use in this ad. The story was about 3 concubines that ran away together from an evil King’s harem. This is the cropped version of the image. The full image includes Fabio, ripped shirt, hair blowing in the wind.
The Polish Addict 