Tag: collection

“It’s Alive!” – Reviving Rose Baby by Chanel

Katie JonesLeave a comment

We all thought it couldn’t be done… but I have successfully brought Rose Baby (64) back to life.

You have to understand, this polish assumed mythical status when I found it amongst my mom’s beauty items back in middle school. Chanel polish? So fancy!

Unfortunately, we had a problem. Rose Baby was stuck closed… and I mean stuck. No matter how we twisted and pried and prayed it would not open. You can still see the scars from the tools we used in our attempts.

I was stuck looking at the polish trapped inside the bottle like a child looking in the window at a pet store. I held on to Rose Baby in the hopes that one day I’d get it open and be able to use it.

Fast forward to over ten years later… and today was the day.

I’d just opened up my new vortex mixer from Amazon and went in to my polish boxes to find those in need of some TLC. With my OPI polish thinner, nail polish remover, and vortex mixer at the ready I went to work. Mermaid in the Shade got a good refresh and so did Pink Diamond by Essie. Now both wearable again at long last!

Then, I saw it. Rose Baby. I figured I might as well try.

Out came the slip joint pliers from my college toolbox and all of my willpower. As I got to work, I soon started to hear the distinctive cracks of dried polish breaking. It took a while and some wiggling (I like to think my baby muscles from pilates helped), but I got it open!

As you can see, the neck of the bottle was CAKED in dried polish. That explains it. (Looks like my mom didn’t put the bottle away nicely that last time she used it over 20 years ago!)

It needed emergency care to say the least. I carefully removed the brush, getting as much of the gloopy polish to stay in the bottle as I could, and started to clean.

I used nail polish remover to gently wipe up as much dried polish as I could, and then used a mechanical pencil to pick away the more stuck on bits. Thankfully, it worked just fine.

Next step was to revive the viscous polish and hopefully get it wearable again. This was the easy part, but I was nervous nonetheless. I worked in some drops of thinner bit by bit with the vortex mixer and 15-20 drops of thinner later it came back to life.

Borrowed the top cap from another polish so you can get the full effect : )

This 2001 polish was well loved, and now I hope I can get a few more wears out of it over the next 24 years. I’ll save my first manicure with Rose Baby for a special occasion, but you can take a look at the swatch I made (along with my other Chanel polishes) below… can you tell I bought Frisson to fill the Rose Baby shaped hole in my heart?

Want a Rose Baby polish of your own? That’ll set you back $50+ on eBay – I’m glad I got this bottle open!

Thanks for following along,

Katie

My Latest eBay Finds

Katie JonesLeave a comment

Every once in a while I fall down a rabbit hole and soon find myself searching for elusive discontinued bottles online. I keep a wishlist going in my nail polish spreadsheet that is constantly growing as I discover collection after collection.

Images from Pinterest

While some polishes still exist only in my dreams (thinking of you, Eat’n Eggplant), every once in a while I find a good deal on an older polish that I’ve had my eye on.

I watched Vintage Dusties’ video 80s & 90s Essie Tour + Organization + Cats last week and before I knew it I was searching for essie Chocolate Cakes on eBay. The floodgates had opened. Over the next couple of days, I ended up ordering eight (whoops!) discontinued OPI and essie polishes for my collection. All polishes are swatched with two coats of polish and finished with essie Gel-Setter top coat. I photographed inside with flash and outside in the sun – with slight editing for accuracy on the outdoor photos.

Without further ado, here are swatches and thoughts on each polish going from most recently released to oldest…

OPI Complimentary Wine (Muse of Milan – Fall 2020)
This collection didn’t excite me much when it came out (I think we all had other things on our minds!), but since then I’ve continued to see gorgeous swatch photos of Complimentary Wine. I love dark red polishes and this one is so dark it’s nearly brown in some light. She’ll definitely be on rotation this fall.

OPI Congeniality is my Middle Name (Miss Universe – Fall 2011)
This was a last minute cart addition but I’m glad I grabbed it! Congeniality is my Middle Name is a deep berry magenta with pretty (almost flaky) shimmer. The bottle does require a good shake before use since it settles a teensy bit.

OPI Black Cherry Chutney (India – Spring 2008)
I know I had this one back in the day so I’m happy to add it back to my collection! Polishes like this one definitely come alive in the sun. (Ignore my pink background nails!)

essie Lady Godiva (Luscious – Fall 2004)
This one has been on my list for a few months (I love the name – makes me think of the Collier painting) and it doesn’t disappoint. Lady Godiva is very dark and almost black in some light – similar to 99% cacao dark chocolate.

OPI Purple-opolis (Greek Isles – S/S 2004)
I have Aphrodite’s Pink Nightie from this collection since it’s still in production. I’m 99% sure this is a bottle from 2004 due to the bottom label. Noae Nails has a post that shows the evolution of OPI bottom labels and it’s super handy! This will be a great summer polish. The flash photos reveal glowing shimmer that isn’t totally obvious at first.

OPI Kinky in Helsinki (European Collection – F/W 2002, this bottle is from Colorcopia – Summer 2009)
How fun is this name?? Originally part of the F/W 2002 collection, Kinky in Helsinki was rereleased as part of the Colorcopia line from Summer 2009. A quick look at the label below confirms it’s from 2009 – which explains the good price I got on it! I’m curious to see how this one compares to Pompeii Purple which has become my favorite toenail polish.

OPI Concord Grape (New England – Fall 1998)
If you read my post from May 7th, you know how excited I am to add this one to my collection at a reasonable price. Check out that post for more on this smoky purple shimmer!

essie Chocolate Cakes (Unknown – 1994 or 1995)
So, this one is a bit of a mystery release year. As far as I’ve learned, Chocolate Cakes was released sometime in 1994 or 1995 as part of a food related collection. Based on the colors, I’m guessing this was a fall release but I’m not certain. Polishes in the mystery collection included Brownie Points, Camel Hair (?!), Chocolate Kisses (later Chocolate Cakes), Lemon Meringue, Raisinuts, and Tiny Wine-y.

Thanks to Vintage Dusties for all of the info on Chocolate Cakes! Seriously – check out her channel if you haven’t!

Do you have a favorite eBay find? Is there a discontinued polish haunting your wishlist? Let me know!

Katie

The Siren Song of OPI’s F/W 1998 New England Collection

Katie Jones1 Comment

When I set about cataloging my collection earlier in the year, I took the time to look at each and every OPI collection on record from 1989 to today. 

As I looked at swatch after swatch (and added more than a few to my dream wishlist), I soon came upon the Fall/Winter 1998 New England Collection. Now, I don’t know what about this collection spoke to me so deeply, but I was drawn in. Maybe it’s the color story, maybe it’s the fantasy of a cozy evening in a small New England town in the late 90s, or maybe it was the fact that I had never seen or heard of any of these polishes ever before.

Big thank you to CarolineSwing for capturing this full collection swatch

A quick eBay search later, I was a bit demoralized (but unsurprised) to see the prices on some of these bottles. Eat’n Eggplant and Yankee Pankee Plum immediately went on my wishlist and I thought it would be really cool to one day manage to own the full set of polishes. Why couldn’t I have just started my collection at 2 years old!?

While I dream of the two mentioned above (and maybe one day I’ll cave and pay the big bucks), I DID manage to snag one polish from this collection for under $15 (!!) on eBay a couple of weeks ago. It’s a start! Without further ado… let’s take a look at Concord Grape all the way from 1998.

The “three cities” bottle (Paris, Los Angeles, Roma listed on the front), thin brush, and bottom label date this polish to the 1997 to mid-2003 range. Thanks to Noae Nails for providing info on dating OPI bottles in this post.

Concord Grape is a gorgeous deep, smoky, plum shimmer. Flash and sunlight illuminate the glitter, but in shade or indoors it looks almost black.

Isn’t she lovely? I can’t wait to give her a grand debut this fall. I’ll post swatches of the other seven wishlist polishes (OPI and essie) I grabbed in my latest eBay haul this Friday!

Until next time,

Katie