China Glaze Empowerment

China Glaze Empowerment is the lone creme from the "Fight Like A Woman" breast cancer awareness collection, launching in September.  It's listed as a cotton-candy creme which is pretty accurate.  It also reminded me a little of Pepto-Bismol pink, which by the way, I love that stuff.


I did find my formula to be a little thick but a few drops of thinner will help that.  I am not a nail tech or professional so take my advice how you want it, but I DO NOT advice using nail polish remover to "thin" a polish.  Nail polish remover is meant to REMOVE polish... not to just thin in.  I have both Zoya "renew polish rejuvenator" from the Color Lock system, and you can purchase a bottle of generic thinner from beauty supply stores like Sally's.


I used a base of Seche Natural, 2 coats of Empowerment and topped with Seche Vite.  Like I said the formula seemed a little thick to me but in my sun picture, it looks like I may have a bald spot too?  I'm about halfway through my Seche Natural but I may start using my new bottle and just mix it with the old.

After my nasty nail break the other week, I'm still trying to get my nubbins to grow out.  They are getting there!  I need to do some buffing too - I can see my ridges from a mile away (I'm probably the only one though).  You can see in the sun that the pink is nicely reflected and the formula is smooth.

Shade picture - the color looks a bit blueish washed out to me, but it's not - it's just really sunny in the background.  It was 106 degrees today when I went to take pictures.  Blah!

China Glaze [official website] can be found online through several etailers, including my favorite Head2Toe Beauty [official website], Sally's Beauty Supply [official website] as well asTransDesign [official website].

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

Beauty Debutante Posts

I recently had two more posts over at Beauty Debutante - one on a tanning lotion and another you've seen here on Polish Galore... a neutral nail polish ^_^  Please feel free to read, comment, share, and most of all, enjoy!

• Sothys Sun Care Progressive Sunny Glow Lotion, Sun-Sensitive Areas Care
• Neutral Nail of the Day: Cheeky Monkey Hangover

Dermelect Launchpad Nail Strengthener Follow Up

A little over a month ago, I started using Dermelect Launchpad as my base coat.  The product says it hydrates and strengthens nails, resists chipping and splitting, increases integrity and cohesion of the nail plate resulting in natural flexibility and increased moisture and actively removes harmful free radicals most commonly associated with nail damage.  I also wanted to see if it would help my nails grow faster.


I've been under a lot of stress these past 30 days, including three very bad breaks to my nails that couldn't have been avoided.  However, as a whole, my nails were definitely stronger than normal.  I didn't have any problems with chipping or splitting but I can't say that they grew any faster - which wasn't a claim of the company anyway. Overall, I am happy with this product as far as a strengthener, but I don't feel that I would replace my base coat completely just yet.  

Dermelect Cosmeceuticals products are available on their website [official website].

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

CSN Giveaway #2

CSN has selected me as a CSN Preferred Blogger (wee!) so I have another $40 gift certificate to giveaway.  Again, this is open to only US and Canadian readers (sorry friends!).


Since I bought the house, I've been debating what to do, room by room.  My first big room to tackle is the dining room, and I'm still deciding on paint colors before I go for decorations.  Now, David Bromstad (whom I LOVE) from HGTV's 1st Design Star and now the host of Color Splash, would probably disagree with me, especially since decorations is where you spend your money - paint is relatively cheap.


I just recently placed my first order with CSN using the gift certificate that I won from Niki from Polish on Digital Paper and purchased a lovely canvas print of the beach that I'm thinking of hanging in my bathroom.  It should be here in about a week, so I'll let you know how I liked it.  ^_^


Fill me out!  This time, I am requiring that users put their Google Friend Connect ID.  You must be a follower to join this giveaway.  The giveaway starts today: 22 August and ends 30 August at midnight GMT.

This giveaway is now closed

Barielle Style in Argyle

Oh, is it fall yet?  Since I started blogging, I've noticed myself looking at women's hands and feet for their nail polish and one thing I've noticed is that I'm a little tired of pink.  That being said, I have TONS of pink polish, but that's another story.  Barielle has just released their Fall 2010 Collection titled "Style in Argyle", an autumn apparel-inspired polish.  Now while I don't actually own any argyle, I do like the way it looks.

The collection includes the following colors:

Cashmere or Loose Me is a soft brown with copper pearl

Tight Knit is a purple brown creme

Aura Angora is a royal gold creme

Unraveled Rust is a burnt rust creme

Wool You Marry Me?  is a plum brown creme and

Cowl of the Wild is a mushroom taupe creme.

Taupe is HOT this fall, I would definitely recommend that one.  Aura Angora was a surprise to me - a royal gold?  It's a break from the bright neon yellows we saw this summer, but I'm wondering if it will be "warm" enough for fall.

Barielle is big 3 free and something I hadn't noticed before on their releases, it is pregnancy safe.  Not that I'm pregnant (or planning on getting that way until my son is like... 10 haha), but it's good to know which companies can state that.  ^_^

Barielle [official website] retails for $8/bottle.