Polishment: A History

From the day I first learned about blogs, I wanted one. But I had my concerns. When I was growing up, my room was littered with half-made friendship bracelets and half-finished stories. And Perler beads. Lots of Perler beads. I was always eager to jump into projects, but unlikely to finish them.

Case in point, I created a blog called "Pause Reflect Review" in 2008. I'd always wanted to review movies so I thought... why not blog about them? Three posts later, I jumped ship. Then I started "Paw de Chat" in 2009; an ill-fated blog all about cats. (I'm sure you're not surprised.) It had a good run, but I lost steam again.

Years passed.

'Twas a fateful day in mid-October. The year was 2011. The new blog this time around... was Polishment.

I remember the feeling I had after those first couple of posts. It was very much like sending out a message in a bottle. Would anyone read what I'd written? And more importantly, would they enjoy it??

A year has passed, and it's been a great one. I never thought I'd have such sweet readers, such fun giveaways, and even such awesome polish company partnerships. The day I received my first polish to review in the mail, I was floored. It had been a dream of mine, and to see "Polishment" on the box followed by my address was like a happy hallucination.

I have you guys to thank, deeply, because if this blog weren't so successful, then I wouldn't have the opportunity to sample products, and I wouldn't have the drive to go out and shark my own, and then I wouldn't have the inspiration to post nearly as much as I do. It's cyclical really. So let's celebrate our success together!

Over the next ten days, I am going to post my personal Top Ten. My absolute favorite colors in my Stash. It's going to be tough, and it won't be in priority order; that's like asking me to choose a favorite ice cream flavor. Come on. But I am hoping we can all have some fun over the next few days sharing our favorite colors.

So, any guesses? Any colors you're hoping to see?

youaremahgirls, Francesca

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiQzUEc_FmI]

Must Stash!

It starts off small. You have six or so treasured polishes that fit neatly in your medicine cabinet, or underneath your sink.

Slowly, your Stash begins to grow. You turn to a shoebox for help, but that only works for a few weeks. You need something bigger. Something better. Something that's not lowly cardboard. You need a vessel worthy of your Stash.

Gals, I feel your pain — because I've been there. I searched high and low at brick-and-mortar stores like Target and IKEA. I scoured Amazon and Google images for ideas. I read other nail polish blogs to see what fellow polishaholics were doing.

In the end, I found the perfect storage solution! I'll show you guys pictures tomorrow, but first I want you to tell me — how do you store your Stash? I'd love to hear about your tried-and-true method in the comments. (If you have pics, even better!) And if you're still on a quest for a great method, then come back tomorrow for my purrsonal recommendation! >^..^<

xx, Francesca

Let Me Top You Off

If you're checking out nail polish blogs, you're no new kid on the block. You're on the next level.

So I'm assuming my regular readers pride themselves on finding the best of the best when it comes to nail care. The kindest cuticle remover. The smoothest base coat. The shiniest top coat.

To me, the top coat is my favorite step because it literally seals the deal. It's the proverbial icing on the cake of awesomeness that is a fresh manicure. But the market is flooded with a million different options, all claiming to be the best. If you've shopped for a new bottle recently, then you know what I mean. It's overwhelming!

And that's why I want to know what you guys think is the best. Period. I've rounded up some of the most popular top coats, and I'd love if you'd take a second to cast your vote on who you think is head of the class. If I failed to include your Most Likely to Succeed, nominate 'er in the comments!

[polldaddy poll=6345232]

xxo, Francesca

My Funny Valentine

I waited too long to post this back when Valentine's happened eons ago. I should have shown this to you the week before so that you could have had time to pick out supplies if this inspired you. But I couldn't get my act together — sorry! So now I'm posting one month after... which, to my crazy mind, seemed better than a day or two late. :D

I had been hunting for Revlon's Facets of Fuchsia for a couple weeks with Valentine's Day ideas in mind. It was HTF at first, and what started as mere annoyance began to turn to dread. Was it gone?!

Nope! Turns out it was such a huge success that Revlon's added Facets of Fuchsia to its regular lineup, with a small twist; it is now called "Scandalous." [Side note: Revlon added "Starry Pink" to the lineup, too, now known as "Popular."]

I bought some heart-shaped glitter at my beauty supply store and my plan was complete. Check it out!

I bought some holographic gold star glitter, too... so keep your eyes peeled for that to make its debut one of these days!

xxo, and happybelatedvalentine'sday, GLOSS

"HTF That HTF" or, "How to Find That Hard-to-Find"

Starry Starry Night.

Who knew those three little words could thrill me so. I had to have it. We covered the Essie SSN Obsession here.

eBay was not up for discussion; I did not have the ~$300 to spare, nor would I shell out such an amount for such a thing. I have limits to my madness.

Therefore, I had three options: 1) Ask everyone I knew if they had SSN in their Stash and go from there. 2) Satisfy myself with a comparable dupe. 3) Dusty hunt and hope for the best.

1. Of course I posted on Facebook, but no dice. But what about fellow cube dwellers? I work in a big office with access to an impressive number of co-workers; some say as many as 400. I took a chance, sent out a public email, but was no closer to Starry Starry Night than I was before.

2. What is a dupe? Dupe, in the nail polish world, is short for duplicate; a polish that is a very, very close match for another. Maybe not its identical match, but certainly its fraternal twin. Perfect dupes are extremely rare. Usually a dupe is a naturally occurring thing. In some cases, it just so happens that a few polish companies latch on to the latest trend (for example, Spring 2012, big on creamy light greens) and you see some shades released at the same time that are close (too close?) to each other.

Sometimes you get a case like Starry Starry Night. There was a big hit back in 1998 / 1999 by, who else, Chanel, called “Ciel de Nuit.” French for “Night Sky.” It achieved cult status and Essie, very cleverly, duplicated it and thus… Essie Starry Starry Night was born.

Then you’ve got what are called “frankens,” short for Frankenstein; a homemade concoction made by a nail polish connoisseur. It doesn’t necessarily have to mimic another shade; there are nail bloggers who are known for their at-home polish creations. Then there are others who “franken” (why yes, it is a verb and a noun) HTF shades, such as Starry Starry Night.

3. Dusty hunting! This name will make a lot more sense in a minute.

Have you ever been to a nail salon that had a counter with a built-in display case, and the case seemed to contain the most ancient specimens of polish you’d ever seen? And you thought, no person in their right mind would ever buy such old, rancid-looking product? The little bottles were just sitting there, the formula separating into layers of color and chemicals, and dust seemed to have collected on top of the bottles, and around the handles of the brush?

Well well well. Now you see why they’re called dusties. These gems are literally coated in dust. (Usually “dusty” refers to the bottles themselves, although in some cases you could call an entire store or salon “a dusty.”) And like diamonds in the rough, hidden amongst stone and rubble, some of these bottles are, in fact, priceless jewels.

Dusty hunting felt like my best bet. I was planning on going home to Michigan for Christmas. In a place like Los Angeles, I imagined that there was probably a bigger population of dusty hunters, and so the crop o’ dusties was picked over long ago. But Michigan? That could be unplundered territory.

My angel of a mother had been hearing about Essie Starry Starry Night for a while now, and she had even started pulling over from time to time while she ran errands to check salons and beauty supply stores. She was into it.

She woke me up the day before my visit was over and said, “Today’s the day. We’re going dusty hunting whenever you’re ready.” Together, she and I hit up between 20 and 25 nail salons.

We did not find Starry Starry Night — but we did find one of its closest dupes: Naturistics Crystal Blue Pearl. It was not the most promising-looking salon, but my mom and I vowed no salon would be left unsearched, so I had to go in. I was turning to leave when I noticed a little four-sided carousel unit. I gave it a spin... and thar she was. I had seen her picture online so many times, it was surreal. I recognized her immediately. Be still my heart.

“Is this bottle for sale? ” I asked breathlessly.

The owner and the only nail technician to be seen whispered hurriedly together. Suspicious, the owner named his price. “Four dollars.”

I grinned, grabbed my bottle, slapped a fiver down on the counter and said, “Keep the change.” Wink.

Stay tuned for my review of Naturistics Crystal Blue Pearl later this week!

Until then, GLOSS