Orly - Jungle Love

Happy Sunday!

I hope you're all having a fun weekend. Today we're going to lunch with friends on the Ocean Front then to a friends house for a football game. It's my first day off in over a week so I'm excited! 

Today I have an awesome vintage Orly to share, Jungle Love. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I MISS AND LOVE THE OLD BOTTLE TYPES! They're large and chunky, easy to hold, I simply adore them to pieces. I think I have five now, and I need more! Jungle Love is a sheer, build-able dirty olive green shimmer polish. My lovely polish BFF Jacqui gifted this to me - thank you so much my love!  This is three coats.

Enjoy your Sunday, everyone!

China Glaze Halloween 2012 Wicked Collection - Cast A Spell

Happy Saturday!

I recently stopped by my local Sally's and asked if they had any new Halloween displays in the back. Low and behold, they had the new Chins Glaze Halloween 2012 Wicked Collection! I only got two, but I'm going back tomorrow for a few more. Halloween collections are the ones I look forward to the most every year. My love for green polish and glitter is always so pleased! Today I have Cast A Spell to share. Please excuse my picture quality. I'm trying to figure out my lighting situation in the new place and I struggled while swatching today. 

Anyhoo, Cast A Spell is freaking AWESOME! In fact I can't wait to wear this bad boy as a full mani. Right now I'm wearing Pretty Serious Nightopia and have no intentions of taking it off until it chips. :p Cast A Spell is a deep vampy olive green based polish LOADED with golden lime green flecks. It's so awesome how the flecks shift from the gold to green, although in the end they end up on the gold side. China Glaze always seems to have that one green stunner in their Halloween collections. (Hello Zombie Zest and It's Alive!) Formula was great, it was pretty much a one-coater but I can never leave it alone. This is two coats.

Cheers to Halloween collections! 

Layering Fun - Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Nuclear & Kleancolor Fashionista

Hey everyone!

Today is my day off! I'm going to get my hair cut, swatch, and continued to unpack boxes. Keep in mind, I'm adding wine drinking to the mix. :P Today I have another Sally Hansen Hard As Nails holo glitter to share, Nuclear. I LOVE these glitters, and this oddball color of the bunch just may be my favorite. I tend to adore "ugly" colors, they just make my heart melt! Nuclear is a dirty mustard yellow/olive green polish with a sheer base and holo glitter. I am seriously in love. Seriously. ;p These are older swatches, but I think this is two coats over Kleancolor Fashionista, up next.

The perfectly matching underwear underneath it all is Kleancolor's Fashionista. I LOVE THIS! Dirty olive green creme with yellow undertones. This may be one of my favorite Kleancolors I own. Once again, older swatches but I think two coats.

Any one else love "ugly" colors?

Random Swatches Day!

Hello there!

I had some unrelated swatches hanging out in my computer, so I thought I'd throw them all together and call it Random Swatches Day! 

First up I have a Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure, Yellow Kitty. This color has been discontinued, and I bought it one clearance for the name LOL! I normally don't gravitate toward pastels at all, but I actually really enjoy it. This is three coats to fill in bald spots. 

Next up I have a lovely vintage Lancome Vernis Absolu polish, Fleur Kaki. (yep, that's not a typo, that's how it's spelled.) I love vintage Lancomes, and this golden olive green is no exception. The formula is a litter watery, this is three coats. LOVE.

Last but not least, I have a newly acquired Revlon polish, a vintage LE Berry Rhumba. This is a one-coater, people! ONE. COAT. This raspberry creme polish flowed onto my nails perfectly. Buttery smooth.  

Have a great Tuesday!

1 YEAR BLOGAVERSARY! China Glaze - Cat's Eye

Good morning!

I can't believe it, but today Polished Claws Up! turns 1! I've met so many amazing girls, learned so much about polish, & BOUGHT so much polish in the last year it makes my lil heart burst! Thank you all for joining me on this crazy ride, and I can't wait to venture even deeper in the world of polish with you! I had something special in my mind for this day, but we are leaving to go to Ohio for one of my best friends wedding & didn't have time. I do however have a great polish to share today so don't worry! :P <3

Today I have a fantastic polish to share today and one that I was so happy to recently check off my wishlist - China Glaze's Cat's Eye. If there's one thing I've learned from hunting for old and discontinued polish - it's to wait for the right time to buy. Prices go up and down all the time and even if you miss it, you'll always come across it on eBay or blog sales again. I had seen listings for Cat's Eye but the prices were too steep. Tada! A few weeks back I found it for the right price. 

Cat's Eye is a GLOWING olive green and golden polish that has such a rich, edgy feel to it! The formula was thin, so this is three coats. I love how it different lighting it switches from the green and gold being more prominent. It's such a great polish that was worth the wait.

Patience pays off with polish!

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Fall 2011 polishes

Oh, Friday! Thank goodness you're here!

I have the day off today - it's going to be full of swatching and happy hour and a cookout. Today I have three polishes from Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri Fall 2011 collection. I came across these at the Dollar Tree, and since I missed out on Bronze Ablaze I was definitely ecstatic! BTW - have you guys seen the recent Insta-Dri LE's?! In A Flurry??? Duochrome shimmer?! No worries, swatches to come. Onto the polish!

First up I have Emerald Express, a deep turquoise shimmer polish with a slight hint of duochrome around the edges. I LOVE this color! It freakin' GLOWS man! Seeing these swatches makes me want to wear this as a full mani NOW. This is two coats of green magic. MAGIC.

Next up I have Ruby Rush, a black-based polish with heavy magenta/red shimmer. What a GREAT Fall color! Fall is my favorite time of the year for polish. Well, that and Christmas - all the greens come out then! ;) This polish strikes me as being very sexy yet sophisticated. Two coats.

Last but not least, I have Bronze Ablaze. After seeing swatches on Scrangie's blog I knew I had to have it. Alas, I was too late and I couldn't find it anywhere. Fate smiled upon that fateful day and I got the last one at Dollar Tree! The formula on this one wasn't nearly as smooth and creamy as the last two - it was runny and watery. Not unworkable, just threw me off from the bunch. Bronze Ablaze is an olive green and gold shimmer polish with serious brown undertones. WOW-ZA. Two coats. True love.

Have an amazing Friday!

Old and New -OPI - At Your Quebec & Call and Hard Candy mini

Hey gals!

Today I prepared another Old and New post, and I'm starting off with a dusty hunting black label find, OPI's At Your Quebec & Call. I had always wanted this polish, but for some reason always passed it up. I found an almost full bottle while dusty hunting with Jacqui with only 4 bucks. It was meant to be. At Your Quebec And Call is a dirty olive green shimmer polish. The formula was rather runny, it pooled on my pinky finger. Ah well! I love the color! This is two coats.

Next up for the new section I have a little unnamed Hard Candy polish I received as a freebie by an eBay seller. It looks more red-based in the bottle, but it takes on a more firey orange on the nail. MAN that shimmer is awesome! Two coats. 

Have a great day!

Orly a la mode - Enchante

Good morning, loves!

So I finally got my MASSIVE blog sale order from Kaz. It was like freakin' Christmas morning, man! I almost forgot everything I had ordered so it was really exciting. You just wait, you'll be seeing them pop up in the next few weeks! :) First up to share from my haul is one of the polishes I was the most excited to get - Orly a la mode's Enchante. I first saw this polish on Day Seven of Kaz's 50 polishes posts a few months back. I was in LOVE! I've NEVER seen anything about this old Orly brand so when she threw it in her blog sale, I squealed with delight. If ever see any more a la mode polishes on eBay, WATCH OUT! 

Enchante is a dirty olive green shimmer polish that has stolen my polish lovin' heart. I love these kinds of greens, no matter how many I have, new ones are always welcome in my stash! This is three thins coats. 

Have a great rest of your weekend! <3

China Glaze - Out On Safari

Good Mornin!


Today I have a polish to share that I was so excited to check off my never ending, always growing wishlist - China Glaze's Out On Safari. I have been drooling over this polish ever since I saw it as a nail newbie, but the few times I saw it pop up on eBay the price was just too rich for my blood. Thank goodness I found this bad boy on a blog sale for ten bucks! Out On Safari is a dusty, dirty olive green polish with a glowing green shimmer glowing within. Oh my goodness I'm in love! Please excuse the bubbles on all but the pointer finger, I'm not sure what was up with my topcoat, but it really hated me when I wore this as a full mani. Two coats.

What do ya think? :P

Old and New - Revlon Streetwear Burnt & Top Speed Modern Grace

Well now, Happy Tuesday!


I hope everyone's week is off to a great start. Today I have an Old and New post, and for the Old section to start things off I have one of my newly acquired Streetwears, Burnt. Streetwear has a silly lil habit of giving the same name up to three different polishes, so this is just one version of Burnt. I love this olive green based polish with matching green and gold shimmer, just up my alley for green polish AND a Streetwear! SOLD! Formula was a little runny, as some older polishes can be. This is two coats if I remember correctly.

Next up we have one of my favorite polishes from Revlon's Top Speed line. This beauty is from last summer's Limited Edition collection, and since I was a nail newbie then, I missed out. And finally I found it on eBay for five bucks with shipping and I was sold. And one happy polish addict! This periwinkle purple polish is just perfection for a summer color and I see myself reaching for it time and time again. Great formula, two coats.

Have a great day!