Nail Polish Discussion - Any Brand

[Anneri]

I have, and I'm confused as usual. If you need a disclaimer as long as my arm just to let people order nail polishes, maybe you'd change something?! (And I say this as a FF lover!) What the heck are the fiend shades? I'll wait for stockists to get them, I guess - I don't need them all (I've a pile of untrieds anyway), and either Grace will send them to me or Maria will send them to my parents place where I can pick them up in four weeks. I've no idea what I want for BF or if I indeed want anything - we'll see. What I really need is some skincare so I can stock up on that and bring it back to Shanghai when I'm at home, so that would be the savviest option.

PQ, I hear you on your heels! I used to wear them when I just met hubby - he's 25cm taller than me, so I got a lot of gorgeous ones. Joke was on me, really, because shortly after I was diagnosed with an early form of arthritis in my knees and gone were my high heels wearing days. I just had a look at them last week because I was looking for shoes to wear for a ball on Saturday, but I couldn't wear them at all. I've nearly decided (not just there yet) to give them away, but it huuuuuurts! Hope you'r feeling better.

And on the subject of time flies, it's really mind boggling that the year is nearly over and that nearly marks the end of our first year here in China and we survived it. Amazing. Let's see what the next one brings. (I totally draw the line at being here more than two and a half year though. It's not because I don't like it, but pollution etc is just two bad.)

Anitacska, thank you for your nice words on my christmas struggles. Am still fuming, btw, but well, it's still a few weeks and lets see what happens in the meantime.

And a last edit: I got some CBLs recently and am surprised how much I (still) like them. I also like her Holiday LE quite a bit! Talk about back to the roots!

 

[Anitacska]

Really? I think it's pretty straight forward. The Fiend exclusives are priced like that so that if someone finds a link by accident, they won't buy it as without the code they're super expensive. They won't be available from stockists either as you have to be in the group to buy them. I've only ordered the blue one, but I haven't got it yet as we're doing a UK group buy and we only had a few items last month, so Sophie is holding them until after this pre-sale. I definitely want all 8 new colours plus the 2 cotms and with the 30% BF sale I think I'll get myself some Tonic Polish and also some EdMs if Hayley doesn't do a BF sale or if it's not as good. I do really want the EdM group exclusive though that I can only get from her, so I'll have to think about it.

I still like CbL too, but I'm just finding other brands more interesting now. I like 3 of the holiday collection, and I definitely want the December cotm and the Fast Eddie charity polish. A friend of mine has all of them (except the Dec potm) already and she said I can go tomorrow and have a look at them, I might not like them all once I see them in person, or might end up liking more, hahaha.

Wow, it's nearly been a year for you in China as well?! Time really flies away from me nowadays. I can see why you wouldn't want to stay there for too long.

I had some time to myself during the weekend and decided to attempt watermarbling again, some of you will have seen it on IG. I'm quite pleased with the result, but it took me about 2 hours. I used the OPI Color Paints over Color Club Sex Symbol which is a light silver glitter. I actually wanted to use more colours, but the other 5 shades I have are in mini bottles and they just wouldn't drip out for the life of me, so I ended up only using the 3 big bottles. Even this took a while, and I kinda cheated as I made the pattern in the cup and let it dry, then cut it up and used as decals, it's just easier for me than dipping my fingers one by one (also less messy and uses up less polish). Anyway, here it is:

View attachment 57524

 

[Anitacska]

Gah! EP is having another pre-order that includes 3 new Opals starting this Friday. I was really hoping she wouldn't release anything new for a while apart from the mysteries which I wouldn't have got anyway.

 

[Anneri]

That woman is out to kill me, for sure! I hoped last time would've been the last release for this year but for the mysteries! Gah!

For you EP aficionados - she offers to combine shipping. Would that actually come out cheaper for international customers? I've never ordered more than 4 polishes at once, so I've no idea.

 

[Anitacska]

That woman is out to kill me, for sure! I hoped last time would've been the last release for this year but for the mysteries! Gah!

For you EP aficionados - she offers to combine shipping. Would that actually come out cheaper for international customers? I've never ordered more than 4 polishes at once, so I've no idea.

I know, right? I want so many other polishes, Glams, FFs, EdMs, Tonic Polish, etc., I really didn't want to spend on EPs as well. But if I don't order them this time, will she bring them back? Will it be another pre-order or will I have to refresh for 45 minutes and still miss out? Argh!

As for international shipping, I guess it depends on whether you'd get charged customs if you have loads in one package. I don't have them sent here anymore because she won't mark the package down enough to slip through if there's more than 2 polishes in there and her international shipping is very expensive now. Also she used not to combine packages and sometimes you can't get everything in one go and that would annoy me too.

I might ask her to combine my two pre-orders though, I know there won't be a shipping refund, but I'll save $2 on consolidation fee at least. I don't know if she will.

This whole Black Friday business is doing my head in. Trying to work out where it's best to order some older Glams from: the Glam site, the HHC Glam site, the UK Glam site, Mei Mei's or Harlow (not sure if she's having a BF sale, haven't seen anything on it)?! AAAAAAAARGH!

 

[Anneri]

I feel you! Trying to do the math as well (not for Glam, but still!). And then you've no clue if some shops you want to order at do BF sales at all and it's already Tuesday! Gah!

I was thinking about the customs fees. Since I started to send things to my parents nothing has been caught by customs, but I'm not really sure if I want to test that with seven EPs! I should do the math I guess and calculate what happens if I had to pay customs versus shipping fees x2. Hmpf. Annoying.

I already ordered some older CBLs at Meimei yesterday and want to catch some FFs at BSF. Let's see what else will accumulate!

 

[boschicka]

I placed my first order with Femme Fatale (through the US site) and I'm thoroughly unimpressed. I received a shipping notice for my items, but they never actually shipped. I had forgotten about the order for a bit, but finally emailed them to find out what was up. They said that one of the items I ordered was showing as backordered when they tried to fulfill the order (not backordered when I placed the order), so apparently the order just sat somewhere for weeks instead of them contacting me...or shipping the rest of the items, etc?!? So they said they would look into their inventory and if it truly is out of stock, they will credit me back for the item and finally ship the remainder. Uhhh, ok. Thanks? What kind of a system is that?!? Do I have unrealistic expectations?

 

[PearlyQueen]

I also have a long list for Black Friday, there are loads of Glams I want to get, some Cupcakes, Illyrian's (she's also restocking Mad World which is one of my LE polishes at MMB and I'm repurchasing it just in case!) and there is a new gorgeous Femme Fatale release that I must buy (although she doesn't do BF sales). I did look at the Pahlishes and luckily there's nothing I really must have, so that's good. After this month I will seriously need to consider going on a no-buy for December to let my bank account recover and have some money left for Christmas. Hopefully there won't be any EP releases anytime soon as I really shouldn't buy them, but of course I would if they were released.

MMB refunded me the $40 for my Different Dimension package last night, so at least that's good. They have promised to make sure that my other packages are safe and that there won't be any storage charges, so hopefully they keep their word. The upside is, I got the 4 polishes half price in the end, lol.

I think it's good to give some love to the older polishes. If I were only using my new ones, I'd never get around to using older ones, I buy them at 5x the rate of actually being able to use them as it is! I'm also trying to use the brands I have most of and the brands I have used the least of, or in some cases both. Eg. I have over 300 Glams and I've only used 30 of them! Anyway, looking forward to seeing your vintage manis!

Sorry to hear you can't wear your heels anymore. I was never into high heels or shoes in general, although I am rather partial to some pretty Skechers trainers. I usually just wear jeans and trainers now since I haven't had a job for 15 years, I was actually thinking I don't even know what I would wear if I finally found a job! Eeek! I have had some other obsessions of course, scarves and make up in particular, although I've been too lazy to bother with wearing much make up lately, other than mascara, eyeliner and tinted lipbalm.



Thank you! It is really pretty!



Exactly! The bottle has way more in it than I'll ever use and it was free, so I'm not complaining, lol.

Glad you got your refund!
EP must have read your post, they neeeeed more of your money (and mine of course!!!)
I'm really annoyed because Illyrian's list only has one polish on it I must have - and of course I must have it, which makes it expensive for a single, regardless of discount - grrrrrrrr!
I want last month's Glams I skipped but I'd put money on them not being included in the sale - if they are I'll be in though!
With the exchange rate I reckon Cupcakes are cheaper at RC, there was one I really wanted (ltd edition) and when I calculated how much it would be, I backed off sharpish - it was nice, but I figured it would be about £20 to buy it alone, and the others I like were available cheaper elsewhere when you work out shipping.
Anyhow, there are plenty of others on my BF list, we'll see if they all offer discounts though.

 

[PearlyQueen]

Really? I think it's pretty straight forward. The Fiend exclusives are priced like that so that if someone finds a link by accident, they won't buy it as without the code they're super expensive. They won't be available from stockists either as you have to be in the group to buy them. I've only ordered the blue one, but I haven't got it yet as we're doing a UK group buy and we only had a few items last month, so Sophie is holding them until after this pre-sale. I definitely want all 8 new colours plus the 2 cotms and with the 30% BF sale I think I'll get myself some Tonic Polish and also some EdMs if Hayley doesn't do a BF sale or if it's not as good. I do really want the EdM group exclusive though that I can only get from her, so I'll have to think about it.

I still like CbL too, but I'm just finding other brands more interesting now. I like 3 of the holiday collection, and I definitely want the December cotm and the Fast Eddie charity polish. A friend of mine has all of them (except the Dec potm) already and she said I can go tomorrow and have a look at them, I might not like them all once I see them in person, or might end up liking more, hahaha.

Wow, it's nearly been a year for you in China as well?! Time really flies away from me nowadays. I can see why you wouldn't want to stay there for too long.

I had some time to myself during the weekend and decided to attempt watermarbling again, some of you will have seen it on IG. I'm quite pleased with the result, but it took me about 2 hours. I used the OPI Color Paints over Color Club Sex Symbol which is a light silver glitter. I actually wanted to use more colours, but the other 5 shades I have are in mini bottles and they just wouldn't drip out for the life of me, so I ended up only using the 3 big bottles. Even this took a while, and I kinda cheated as I made the pattern in the cup and let it dry, then cut it up and used as decals, it's just easier for me than dipping my fingers one by one (also less messy and uses up less polish). Anyway, here it is:

View attachment 57524 View attachment 57525

Nice! That colour scheme reminds me of something not nail polish-y, but I can't place it!
I do like a watermarble, even if you cheated...

 

[PearlyQueen]

I placed my first order with Femme Fatale (through the US site) and I'm thoroughly unimpressed. I received a shipping notice for my items, but they never actually shipped. I had forgotten about the order for a bit, but finally emailed them to find out what was up. They said that one of the items I ordered was showing as backordered when they tried to fulfill the order (not backordered when I placed the order), so apparently the order just sat somewhere for weeks instead of them contacting me...or shipping the rest of the items, etc?!? So they said they would look into their inventory and if it truly is out of stock, they will credit me back for the item and finally ship the remainder. Uhhh, ok. Thanks? What kind of a system is that?!? Do I have unrealistic expectations?

Not unrealistic - that's shoddy CS, I'd be annoyed too. I only ordered from there once, and even though it was just 3 polishes they were marked at full price and cost me a fortune in customs fees. I think the whole site is handled by a third party though.

 

[PearlyQueen]

And finally my last few manis!
Doctor Lacquer The Smoke That Thunders


Oldie alert! Special FX metallic purple topped with OPI Glitter Bit of Music


Nails Inc Chester Terrace (it's meant to be a matte but it was sooo uneven I ended up topcoating it)

 

[Anitacska]

I placed my first order with Femme Fatale (through the US site) and I'm thoroughly unimpressed. I received a shipping notice for my items, but they never actually shipped. I had forgotten about the order for a bit, but finally emailed them to find out what was up. They said that one of the items I ordered was showing as backordered when they tried to fulfill the order (not backordered when I placed the order), so apparently the order just sat somewhere for weeks instead of them contacting me...or shipping the rest of the items, etc?!? So they said they would look into their inventory and if it truly is out of stock, they will credit me back for the item and finally ship the remainder. Uhhh, ok. Thanks? What kind of a system is that?!? Do I have unrealistic expectations?

Oh no, that's not good. But like PearlyQueen said, it's not run by Sophie, she sends the polishes over to the US in bulk. I'd contact her and let her know what's happened, I'm sure she'd want to know about things like this as it casts a bad light on her as the brand. Hope you get your polishes soon.

 

[Anitacska]

Glad you got your refund!
EP must have read your post, they neeeeed more of your money (and mine of course!!!)
I'm really annoyed because Illyrian's list only has one polish on it I must have - and of course I must have it, which makes it expensive for a single, regardless of discount - grrrrrrrr!
I want last month's Glams I skipped but I'd put money on them not being included in the sale - if they are I'll be in though!
With the exchange rate I reckon Cupcakes are cheaper at RC, there was one I really wanted (ltd edition) and when I calculated how much it would be, I backed off sharpish - it was nice, but I figured it would be about £20 to buy it alone, and the others I like were available cheaper elsewhere when you work out shipping.
Anyhow, there are plenty of others on my BF list, we'll see if they all offer discounts though.

Yeah, bloody EP. If only she would do a BF sale, now that would make up for everything, hahaha. Yeah I know, dream on.

That's annoying about Illyrian. Also, the sale starts at 5 am! Eeek! Although my friend says she can place the order for me as she starts work at 6 am (she's a stock manager at John Lewis, they open at 8 am on Black Friday), so maybe I won't have to get up early or risk missing it.

The new Glams won't be in the sale for sure. I reckon nothing from the past 2-3 months. I might have to wait to buy those as I want the 6 new Wizardly Ways ones, the 2 new group exclusives, 4 new HHC ones and 5-6 of the Forever After ones that I haven't got. Still don't know where I'm ordering them from.

Yes, the Cupcakes are probably cheaper from RC, but I want the 4 new HHC ones and they offer 15% off on their other polishes as well as free shipping for the HHC order (they'll be combined, so no extra consolidation fee either), so all in all it's just about worth it. I only want 2-3 extra ones.

I'm really bummed as Femme Fatale has now announced that Tonic Polish won't be included in the sale. Also EdM has a 40% off sale on Friday, so I'll be ordering those directly from her. In that case I might get the Tonic Polishes from Mei Mei instead as she has 20% off, but her shipping isn't exactly cheap. Argh! So many factors to take into consideration. I have ordered the new Femme Fatales though, all 10 of them.

Nice! That colour scheme reminds me of something not nail polish-y, but I can't place it!
I do like a watermarble, even if you cheated...

Thank you!

And finally my last few manis!
Doctor Lacquer The Smoke That Thunders
View attachment 57548 View attachment 57549

Oldie alert! Special FX metallic purple topped with OPI Glitter Bit of Music
View attachment 57550

Nails Inc Chester Terrace (it's meant to be a matte but it was sooo uneven I ended up topcoating it)
View attachment 57551

Nice manis! I especially like the first two.

 

[Anitacska]

I went to see my friend and her new CbL polishes and ended up buying 2 off her plus a few other polishes she was getting rid off.

View attachment 57552

My current mani is China Glaze Cosmic Dust with Lilypad Lacquer Black Prince over it. I really love this one, I'm all over flakies nowadays.

View attachment 57553 View attachment 57555

 

[Anneri]

I went to see my friend and her new CbL polishes and ended up buying 2 off her plus a few other polishes she was getting rid off.

View attachment 57552

My current mani is China Glaze Cosmic Dust with Lilypad Lacquer Black Prince over it. I really love this one, I'm all over flakies nowadays.

View attachment 57553 View attachment 57554 View attachment 57555

Very good choice of CBLs! These were exactly the ones I'd like to get (but the blue topper is the one you'll get only when you buy the whole collection, and that's not happening).
Love the flakies as well. Btw, Meimei has actually 25% off, so you might take that into consideration!
[MENTION=92925]boschicka[/MENTION], sorry about the bad experience with FF! But do contact Sophie on FB or somewhere on social media, she's really nice and always helpful in my experience.

Because of the EP preorder I skipped the FF release... Sigh. BUT! Today my MeiMei order from last week (so typical, why couldn't I wait?!) arrived with a lot of brands I haven't tried before - super excited! There's Fancy Gloss, Tonic, Illyrian, Delush and Native War Paint.

I'll try to mix those fancy Glam topcoats with the gold/silver leaf and reflecting flakies, I should've all the supplies for that at home and they look stunning.

 

[boschicka]

I went to see my friend and her new CbL polishes and ended up buying 2 off her plus a few other polishes she was getting rid off.

View attachment 57552

My current mani is China Glaze Cosmic Dust with Lilypad Lacquer Black Prince over it. I really love this one, I'm all over flakies nowadays.

View attachment 57553 View attachment 57554 View attachment 57555

Your nails are so niiiiice!

 

[boschicka]

And finally my last few manis!
Doctor Lacquer The Smoke That Thunders
View attachment 57548 View attachment 57549

Oldie alert! Special FX metallic purple topped with OPI Glitter Bit of Music
View attachment 57550

Nails Inc Chester Terrace (it's meant to be a matte but it was sooo uneven I ended up topcoating it)
View attachment 57551

Those top two colors are pretty pretty! The navy looks nice with a topcoat!

 

[boschicka]

Very good choice of CBLs! These were exactly the ones I'd like to get (but the blue topper is the one you'll get only when you buy the whole collection, and that's not happening).
Love the flakies as well. Btw, Meimei has actually 25% off, so you might take that into consideration!
@boschicka , sorry about the bad experience with FF! But do contact Sophie on FB or somewhere on social media, she's really nice and always helpful in my experience.

Because of the EP preorder I skipped the FF release... Sigh. BUT! Today my MeiMei order from last week (so typical, why couldn't I wait?!) arrived with a lot of brands I haven't tried before - super excited! There's Fancy Gloss, Tonic, Illyrian, Delush and Native War Paint.

I'll try to mix those fancy Glam topcoats with the gold/silver leaf and reflecting flakies, I should've all the supplies for that at home and they look stunning.

Thank you ladies. I think Sophie is the one who's been emailing me and researching the situation. She's been very nice to deal with. I just felt the system was absurd to allow that to happen, but that's helpful to know other people are running the show and remember she's at a distance, relying on others.

 

[Anitacska]

I think I'm going to pass on the EP pre-order. I only really like the burgundy one, but it would cost me $18* ($16 plus $2 consolidation fee) plus shipping to the UK from my US postbox, so easily $20, and Glam Polish has one that's quite similar to it (The Dark Crystal). I'm just not happy to drop $20 on one polish when I can buy 2 Glams with that money. Eh.

*Apparently she's doing a free US shipping promo for BF.

Free shipping not valid on pre-orders, so it would be $19.50 and I'm definitely not ordering.

 

[Anitacska]

Very good choice of CBLs! These were exactly the ones I'd like to get (but the blue topper is the one you'll get only when you buy the whole collection, and that's not happening).
Love the flakies as well. Btw, Meimei has actually 25% off, so you might take that into consideration!
@boschicka, sorry about the bad experience with FF! But do contact Sophie on FB or somewhere on social media, she's really nice and always helpful in my experience.

Because of the EP preorder I skipped the FF release... Sigh. BUT! Today my MeiMei order from last week (so typical, why couldn't I wait?!) arrived with a lot of brands I haven't tried before - super excited! There's Fancy Gloss, Tonic, Illyrian, Delush and Native War Paint.

I'll try to mix those fancy Glam topcoats with the gold/silver leaf and reflecting flakies, I should've all the supplies for that at home and they look stunning.

Thanks. Yeah, I was very lucky my friend ordered the whole collection and didn't want the topper. It's very pretty.

Hahaha, yes, I knew it was 25%, my fingers slipped. I ended up buying the Glams from the UK Glam store as she gave 15% off, but also has very reasonable shipping to the UK, but I did order some Tonic Polishes from MeiMei. The discount covered the shipping and a bit, but it wasn't that amazing in the end.

I'm skipping the EP preorder, but have spent a ludicrous amount of money on other polishes. I also ordered quite a few stamping plates, 6 from MoYou and 6 from Bundle Monster. I will have to not buy anything next month, I have 3 CbLs on my list that I'm getting on the 1st December (Boulangerie, Fast Eddie and the December cotm) and that's it. I will try very very hard not to give into temptation.

Your nails are so niiiiice!

Thank you. I recently realised that they'd mostly stopped peeling and it's probably down to my nail polish remover as that's the one thing I've changed recently. It's the pink Sally Hansen one and it seems to really suit my nails. I also use OPI Nail Envy, but that used not to work in the past on its own. My right hand still has a couple of peelers and my thumb nail broke a little while ago, so I decided to cut them all down a bit to even things out and hopefully they'll all grow strong.

Thank you ladies. I think Sophie is the one who's been emailing me and researching the situation. She's been very nice to deal with. I just felt the system was absurd to allow that to happen, but that's helpful to know other people are running the show and remember she's at a distance, relying on others.

Yes, Sophie is great. Any news on your order?