China Glaze On Safari, Native Collection for Fall 2012: Elephant Walk and Prey Tell

The thing about getting sets is that sometimes, you end up with nail polish colors that you probably don't want. But the lure of a cheaper price per bottle can be too good to pass up that more often than not, purchasing a set comes out as the better deal. Now, if you're lucky, these 'unwanted' shades will only be one out of, say, six. That's decent odds right there. But if you're luckier, these initially iffy shades turn out to be surprise loves, after all. Continuing part two of our China Glaze Fall 2012 collection series, here are two such colors that I wasn't really excited to get. But all things considered, these two turned out to be a happy addition to my ever-growing nail polish family.

On the deck today: Prey Tell and Elephant Walk

The Hunger Games and China Glaze Capitol Colours: The Martyrs and Freedom Fighters featuring Riveting, Hook and Line, and Agro

It's a mouthful of a title, I know. But there was simply no more concise way to appropriately summarize everything that will be talked about in this post. See, this collection first started as a rumour that was fed by a company leak of photos of the actual colors. Then, there was the threat of lawsuits and even more drama. Thank goodness it was all sorted out to reveal the exact same colors that was originally leaked, albeit with different names that a quick thinking fan pointed out were a representation of each of the 12 districts as outlined in the books. And now, I am the happy owner of the entire collection with the enabling aka pre-order option of the awesome Nail Polish Canada (they even came earlier than expected, double yay!). I know there were some that were skeptical about the color choices, but I feel it did do the books justice. More on that in a bit. While I know that I probably won't wear some of the colors as often as the others, I still felt strongly about wanting the entire set because (to my knowledge) this is the first nail polish collection that's based off a book series. As a certified bibliophile and nail polish addict, this easily made the entire collection a must-have for me.

I wanted to be able to do in-depth reviews for each color in the same fashion as is my usual, but if I stuck to one color per post, that would take me months just to show you all of them! So while I'll still be doing in-depth reviews, instead, it will be with three polishes in the spotlight per post. That will make this series a 4-part one over the next couple weeks and just in time for the movie release on the 23rd (boo yah!). Now, I'm fairly certain that by now, you've seen a bajillion swatches and reviews of this much anticipated China Glaze collection. So I have to raise the bar. To set these posts apart from the flock, I'll be showcasing not just swatches and a review of the actual polishes, but as well as how it ties in with the books. I'll be picking key characters from each of the districts that the nail polishes represent and somehow, show you how they all connect. This is the part where I say beware of spoilers as I'm fairly certain there will be quite a bit. I'll be writing this with the expectation that you've read the entire series. If you haven't read any or all of them yet, read on at your own risk or simply skip the text after the district name and number in bold. Also, if you're a huge Hunger Games fan and disagree with whatever I've written, please don't flame me. Let's just talk about it in the comments, okay? Okay!

Needless to say this will be a preeeetty long post, photo heavy and with walls of text so grab a coffee, sit back and relax. All set? Here we go!

The first three pretties in this series!

Nail Art Wednesday: Somber Dots and Stripes

After coming up with that busy design last week, I decided to go back to simple and understated. I was reading up on fashion trends and noticed a prevalence of print mixing. Brights and florals are also supposed to be huge (but aren't they ALWAYS huge during spring?) but what caught my eye was mixing patterns. Stripes, plaid, floral, paisley... Apparently, the rules aren't as strict as they once were. You can now mix patterns to your heart's content, provided you do it in a way that doesn't make you look like a clown on the run. Now, there's the tricky part. I wanted to see if I could do just that with my nails and decided on keeping it all grounded by using only two colors and two patterns. The color combination I chose was inspired by an art print that my dad in law left behind (it didn't fit in his luggage). Besides, it felt strangely appropriate with the icky weather we had over the weekend (wasn't that wind on Saturday insane?). As for the patterns, I've been wanting to do polka dots ever since I saw G's take on them at Nouveau Cheap and stripes seemed easy enough to freehand. This is what I came up with:

Hammie says: Dotty and stripey!

Nina Ultra Pro Ink-ling hints at how well it goes with white (snow).

Isn't it funny how people have so much influence on each other without anyone actually realizing just how much exactly? Oh, don't worry, I won't delve into psychology and sociology, with all the intricacies of human interactions. I'll leave that to the experts. What I'm alluding to is far more simpler than that. See, a few posts back, Liz commented that Color Club Shabby Drab would make for such a pretty pairing with white cashmere sweaters (or white knitwear in general, I guess, but that's what she said so we'll stick to that). I hadn't even thought of it that way. Silly fashion retarded me. Of course it would look amazing with white! I, then, scrambled to search my stash for any other colors that might be deemed acceptable in that same category. I thought it would be timely as, if the weather men are to be believed, we were in for a bit of snow. This is what I found:

Pretty greblurple digits are part of what makes (a white) winter (wonderland) a good thing.

OPI Give Me the Moon brings to mind Wallace and Gromit

When you were little, did you ever think the moon was made of cheese? Being a big fan of cheese myself, I did wonder for a time although I might have eventually dismissed the idea. The moon just didn't look quite yellow enough to me to be a processed dairy product. But I got to thinking about it again when I saw the clay animation movie A Grand Day Out. It starred Wallace and Gromit, a man and his dog, two die hard cheese fanatics who decided to build a rocket and head to the moon (to eat it!) when they run out of cheese. (If they look familiar, you might have seen them in the 2005 Dreamworks Animation movie The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.)

Wallace and Gromit enjoying a picnic of moon cheese and crackers!

I was young enough at the time to think it was real and it might have been the cause behind my wanting to become an astronaut when I grew up (didn't everyone else?). It's a much beloved movie from my childhood so it's always a good thing when simple things like nail polish bring back fond memories.

Blue cheese inspired, perhaps?

Pam's Girly Bits: Stormy Skies and Street Magic helps you Sea's the Day

I'm really excited to show you a couple polishes from the Pam's first Girly Bits collection: Sea's the Day today! Pam, a fellow Canadian blogger, has really exceeded expectations with these lovelies. Really, not much intro is needed when these two can speak for themselves. First up, the packaging and after the jump, the polishes themselves!

The packaging it comes in. Very Girly (Bits)!

I love the personalized touches. Really shows the love put into these.

Soulstice Spa Manchester wants you to embrace gray, gloomy days.

One of the few things I'm not too happy about leaving Daylight Savings Time is the early sunsets that prolong the dark of night. After a short day of gloomy, grey weather (much like today's) cut short only by more darkness, not much light does the soul no good. It really is not much wonder that depression hits people the most during the winter months. But grey doesn't always have to be bad.

Grey came back with a splash this fall season. It was considered one of the trendier shades. Mind you, we're talking full on grey and none of that "greige" (a grey/beige hybrid) or "grerple" (purple leaning greys and yes, I made that up) or any other grey with a splash of ____ hybrid. I've long been on the hunt for a light grey that doesn't make me think wet cement and I think I've finally found it.

Don't you a-grey?

Nail Art Wednesday: Halloween Nails! Ghost, Skull, Frankenstein's Monster, Jack o' Lantern and Mummy

The title is a mouthful, I know. But because I only do nail art posts once a week and with the October Birthdays series, I couldn't do Halloween themed nail art leading up to it. Oh no! There was so much I wanted to try! I wasn't going to make it for Halloween! The solution: cram them all in one post on the first Wednesday in November and call it Halloween Nails. *toothy grin*

Beware the Claw!!!