Weekend Shopping: OPI's LE "Sandy Hook Green", Pre-Order Cult Nails' Latest Collection, What's New from Cirque, and more!

Happy weekend to you! Do you have anything fun planned? I'm looking forward to sleeping late and might actually attempt to plan a little trip for my birthday in June...

Lots of fun nail polish news this week!

Take a sneak peek of Cirque's new collection.

OPI created a limited edition polish called "Sandy Hook Green" to help support Sandy Hook Promise.

Shop the new butter LONDON Lippy Shimmer lip glosses.

Pre-order Cult Nails' latest collection Dance All Night.

This new polish* from Nails Inc is sure to fulfill your deepest emerald nail polish desires.

...and speaking of Nails Inc, did you know they make a mint green* leather effect polish?

Get inspired with these nail polish arts & crafts.

Thanks to Sarah/Chalkboard Nails, my device's background is now Cirque XX. Get your own glitter macro background here.

Thoughts about Layla's new-ish gel effect polishes*?

What's on your weekend shopping list?

*Post contains affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

The Makeup Show NYC - Pictures!

Earlier this month I attended The Makeup Show right here in NYC! I met some amazing people, saw many great products, and connected with fellow NYC beauty bloggers :) I have lots of pictures to show you!

Director of Artistry for The Makeup Show James Vincent kicked off the weekend and shared some new products with us. Here he is talking about OCC's new Lip Tar Stained Gloss - I've got two of them to show you and I think you're going to looove them ;)

Sunday, the first day of the show, was busy. I learned after that with nearly 7,000 attendees, it was a record breaking year for The Makeup Show.

On both days, there were presentations and seminars taking place around the event space. Here is founder and Creative Director of Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics David Klasfeld speaking to an attentive audience.

It was fun to browse the many aisles of products - there were over 85 exhibitors! I was really excited to see Layla nail polishes (the only place in NYC that carries a wide variety is Ulta) and I was not disappointed. There were polishes from just about every line on display. Hopefully Layla will expand to more retailers around the city :)

Sneak Peek: New Collection from Cirque!

New York City's own independent (and handmade!) nail polish brand Cirque is a name well known not only by nail polish fans on the interwebs, but the brand can also be found at local markets around the city occasionally. When I read on Cirque's Facebook page that Annie would be at Artists & Fleas in Brooklyn with a sneak peek of her new collection, I knew I had to check it out! I know you would have stopped by too if you could, so I snapped some pictures to share with you :)

The pink and blue ones are holographic!!!

While there's no date set yet, the new and yet to be named Cirque collection is expected to be released early this summer! Keep up with the latest from Cirque on Facebook and shop online at http://www.cirquecolors.com/. Which new Cirque polishes are you most looking forward to?

Zoya Stunning Summer 2013 Nail Polish Collection

Product(s) in this post were provided for review. *This post contains an affiliate link. Read my disclosure policy here.

Are you excited about summer? The six carefree and bright creamy/slightly jelly polishes in Zoya's Stunning summer collection will ease you into summer-mode and can definitely help get your toes flip flop ready!

Four of the polishes (Darcy, Thandie, Micky, and Yana) have a subtle trace of shimmer. You can see it in the bottle but on the nail it's hardly noticeable. For reference, Jacqueline from the spring collection has the same elusive shimmer.

The formula of the Stunning polishes has a (difficult to describe) 'crelly'-ness about it: these aren't jelly polishes, but they aren't exactly true creams either. While these polishes achieve opacity in 2-3 coats, around the edges, the color blends into the nail like a jelly instead of having a sharp line. The consistency is thin but not watery and easy to control.

Darcy

Darcy is a vivid dandelion yellow. The first coat is a bit sheer and honestly looks pretty sickly, but hang in there - it gets better! Two coats almost brings Darcy to full opacity but I still saw some streaks so I did a third. I don't have any yellow cream polishes remotely close to Darcy and I really enjoyed wearing this bright and sunny polish.

Thandie

Thandie is a creamsicle melony-orange. What a fun summer color! You can see a trace of shimmer in Thandie if you look closely (but your friends probably won't notice it). I used three coats for full coverage.

Micky

Micky is a bright - borderline neon - pink that leans slightly more warm than cool. I used three thin coats. This is quite the preppy pink :)

Yana

Yana is a deeper pink than Micky and also is so bright, it's almost neon. Yana has excellent pigmentation (best of the bunch) and I only needed two coats. This would make a great pedicure polish :)

Rocky

Rocky is a muted sky blue. The formula was great - I only needed (2) coats. This shade of blue photographed much more vivid so I adjusted the saturation and brightness to make it look more like the color does in real life.

Josie

Josie is a slightly muted dusty green. If Josie had a touch more blue, she'd cross over into Essie Turquoise & Caicos' territory (if that makes sense). Honestly I wasn't crazy about this color at first, but the longer I wore it, the more it grew on me :) The formula is highly pigmented and I only needed two coats.

The Zoya Stunning collection is a true "collection" of colors. While you may not feel compelled to buy all six, these playful summer brights are perfect for filling in the gaps in your nail polish rainbow!

Zoya nail polishes retail for $8.00 and the Stunning Summer 2013 collection is available online* now. In New York City, Zoya can be purchased at several locations including Gideon's Drugs (1385 Broadway, corner of 38th St) and Ulta in the Rego Park Center. See the full list of retailers here.

Product(s) in this post were provided for review. *This post contains an affiliate link. Read my disclosure policy here.

5 Easy Manicure Ideas for the Best Graduation Nails Ever!

*Product(s) in this post were provided for review. Read my disclosure policy here.

If you're graduating from high school, college, university, or anywhere, congrats! Soon you'll be busy shaking hands, accepting a diploma, and the proudly taking tons of pictures holding it, so there's no better day to wear your school's colors on your nails. If you're going to support a loved one graduating, you too could wear their colors on your nails to celebrate!

Here are 5 easy manicures to inspire you to create the best graduation manicure ever. Each manicure uses just two nail polishes so you'll easily be able to customize the colors for your own school to create a fabulous graduation day manicure.

The Glitter Gradient (shown in Columbia University's colors)

Why not accept your diploma with some sparkle? The glitter gradient is one of my go-to looks when I want to have an impressive looking manicure but am short on time. To create this look, take an (unused!) eye shadow applicator - you know, the one that comes in most drugstore eye shadows with two triangular-ish spongy ends? Tap the sponge tip against your nail polish brush so that the sponge tip picks up some glitter. Don't drench your sponge in polish. Starting at the tip of your nail, dab the glitter on and move back toward your cuticle. You can go as far as you want - the glitter should thin out as you go. If you didn't get enough glitter on your sponge the first time, go back and add some more to your tips. Keep playing around until you're happy with how it looks!

Cream: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Mousseline | Periwinkle Blue Glitter: Cirque Ophelia*

The Funky French (shown in Ohio State University's colors)

Use a pigmented polish to free-hand a wide French tip. Rest your arm on a flat surface (like a table) as you paint to steady your hand. Slightly roll the finger (the one that's being painted) as the brush moves across it to create a natural curve.

Red: Zoya Rekha* | Silver: Zoya Trixie*

Keep reading to see three more graduation manicure ideas...

Weekend Shopping: The Makeup Show, NARS ♥ New York, Lancôme's Aquatic Summer Collection, and More!

I'm excited for the weekend because... The Makeup Show is here! It's my first time so I'll be taking in as much as I possibly can and sharing with you along the way - look for updates from me on Twitter and Instagram (user name: Gotham Polish).

Among the many great companies in attendance this year, I definitely want to see Inglot, Layla, MAC, Makeup For Ever, NARS, OCC, and Stila. Thank goodness there's an app to keep track of everything ;)

In other shopping news...

I'm in love with Lancôme's Aquatic Summer Collection! Simply Aqua, Ultramarine Green, Aqua Bleu and Plunge Pool are the most dreamy turquoise and azure colors.*

NEED: the limited edition NARS ♥ New York Set

Save the date!!! Marc Jacobs Beauty will launch on August 9th.

Now through May 4th, take 20% off your order from http://www.butterlondon.com with the code MUMS13.

Serum No 5 launched on Harlow & Co TODAY! Need some polishes for your wish list? Check out my swatches here and here!

Fun fact: one of new nail polish Chrome Girl's creators Jaime Boreneaz is the wife of Angel David Boreneaz.

I love the idea of this signature necklace. Now if only I had a cool signature...

And this is entirely off topic, but so awesome and gross at the same time that you need to see it: magnetic putty.

*Post contains affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Where to Find Chanel Nail Polish in New York City

My entire Chanel nail polish collection - not so huge, but I love each one!

Chanel nail polishes are some of the most expensive nail polishes you'll find. But there is something so fabulously indulgent about the simple square box the and the iconic logo on the cap that can make even the most frugal gal hand of $27 for a bottle of nail polish. Colors like Taboo, Azuré, and Bel-Argus sure make it hard to walk away from a Chanel counter empty handed!

Chanel nail polishes are available at the following locations in New York City:

Barneys
660 Madison Ave

Bloomingdale's
1000 3rd Ave (between 59th St & 60th St)
504 Broadway (Soho - between Broome St & Spring St)

Chanel
139 Spring St (Soho - between Wooster St & Greene St)
15 E 57th St (between Park Ave & 5th Ave)

Henri Bendel
712 5th Ave (between 55th St & 56th St)

Lord & Taylor
424 5th Ave (between 38th St & 39th St)

Macy's
151 W 34th St

Saks Fifth Avenue
611 5th Ave (between 49th St & 50th St)

Shopping online? I recommend Nordstrom* for free shipping.

*Last updated 05/01/13

Where to Shop Map
What is this all about? Introducing the Where to Shop by Brand Guide.

*Post contains an affiliate link. Read my disclosure policy here.