Centaurea cyanus

Hello hello! It's been so hot recently that even the thought of wearing warm hues like red and yellow have been unbearable. Give me something cool and icy, even if it's just a color!

It's not much-raved about, but I'm actually a pretty big fan of Forever21's Love&Beauty polish line. They have a lot of unique shades and a big range of (metallic) glitters in practically every color you could want, at $2.80 a pop. The only thing that is a bit disappointing is how uncreative and repetitive they are with their naming--I have 2 different L&B polishes both named "Lavender" and another two both named "Turquoise"--but it's a small qualm.

This is Love&Beauty Light Blue, which is a woefully inadequate name for this dainty cornflower blue packed with silver sparkles. It has the kind of unique shimmer that isn't all uniform, which makes it all the prettier. Shown here is 4 coats; it's not the most pigmented of polishes, plus I've noticed that the L&B polishes have a slightly slower drying time than most of the lacquer I buy, but for $2.80 you really can't complain too much. Plus I suspect that a more heavily pigmented base wouldn't have allowed the shimmer to shine so nicely.

Return to the Dark Side

Okay I must confess, despite all the pastels and brights I've been wearing lately...I've always been kinda a vampy girl. I rocked the black polish (way back when it was still just "goth", not "chic"). I love color, but there's never anything quite like a deep, rich, saturated dark...with a little added sparkle, of course.

Urban Outfitters Mystic is just that: a lovely, serene deep blue jelly with specks of fiery orange-shifting flakies. Mmmm.

This was opaque at 3 thin coats, and I think I'm in love. Sparkly toppers with a clear base are nice and all, but there's nothing quite like the depth of a jelly-and-sprinkles combo polish. I hear this is a possible dupe to Deborah Lippmann Ray of Light...if it's true, the price difference will make it a steal.

If vampies in spring are your thing, pick up Mystic at Urban Outfitters for $5 a pop!

A Dream of Warmer Weather

I am ready for spring. I'm ready for sundresses, bare legs, and pastels! Unfortunately the weather here in NYC is the most bipolar I've ever seen it--a nice, balmy 57F one minute, and then dropping down to a chilly, windy 42 within a matter of a couple hours, leaving me with nothing but gooseprickles and the wish that I'd worn a sweater. I guess it's best to keep it springy on my fingertips and bundle up everywhere else, for now...

Revlon Heavenly atop Sinful Colors Cinderella is the perfect wishful-spring mani! Cinderella is definitely my favorite pale blue base--the slightly translucent quality of its formula plus the pink/gold shimmer keeps it from getting too chalky, and it's an easy three coats to opacity. Heavenly is a ethereal, dreamy sheer polish packed with hex and square iridescent glitter (it also happens to be a dupe of Deborah Lippmann Stairway to Heaven), and since it's so glitter-dense it only took one coat to achieve the look here!

The Gardens on the Moon

 

I'm attending an office party today, and the attire is business casual but I was in the mood to be glam! Enter ORLY Lunar Eclipse topped with Lynnderella The Garden of Even. I was originally planning on wearing The Garden of Even over ORLY Bubbly Bombshell, but then I decided to pick undies that would help the fuchsia glitters pop more. I hear jewel tones are still in.
 

Shown here is 3 coats of Lunar Eclipse, 1 coat of The Garden of Even. Lunar Eclipse had a great, thin formula as usual, and a stunning cobalt-purple color shift. It was part of the Cosmic FX collection, which is actually the collection that started it all, the polishes that birthed my obsession with polish, so I am quite fond of it out of nostalgia as well as because it's completely breathtaking.

The Garden of Even did not exactly apply completely even--it's from Lady Lynn's Summer Solstice collection, and contains "intentionally bleeding glitter" as a component to tint the base a translucent, slightly neon fuchsia. Unfortunately since the base is very thick (all the better to suspend the glitter with my dear!) while I had no problems with actual application and was able to get away with brushing it on like with a normal polish as opposed to using the "dab method", the slight tint of fuchsia in the base did apply somewhat unevenly because the formula didn't level well. It's hardly noticeable over a darker base like Lunar Eclipse, but I suspect it will be more obvious over pale underwear so something to keep in mind. Overall though, I'm extremely pleased with this mani and I can't wait to get to the party!

Lynnderella nail lacquer is available for purchase through her Ebay store for $22.50.

A Lavender Compromise

Today I was in the mood for a lavender, but shockingly I had none in my ballooning stash that was the precise shade I wanted...so I decided to get creative. I love layering--it's an easy way to get a lot of different, unique nail looks out of your stash, and can sometimes bring out the best in a polish that may look blah by itself.

 

This is what I came up with: my franken "Sweetsleep" layered over ORLY Pixie Dust. Pixie dust is one of my favorite ORLYs--a gorgeous dusty, shimmery blue, part of the Once Upon a Time collection. Despite its name, what it really reminds me of is Cinderella's gown in the Disney movie. It has a great formula for a pastel--3 thin coats to opacity--and I love to wear it alone, but it made a gorgeous base for Sweetsleep!

The Big Reveal

I may be the most inconsistent blogger ever, but I am pretty good about keeping my nails polished. This was a nail-of-the-yesterday, Orly Royal Navy. 3 coats, an amazing vibrant blue jelly with turquoise shimmer. The best parts of this polish likes to hide itself away indoors, where it simply looks like a shimmery navy, but once you step into the sunlight...BAM. It's electric! Believe it or not in full sunlight in real life the color is even more intense than this, bordering on indigo, practically searing your retinas with its intensity. This polish probably has a touch of neon pigment in it, seeing as it dries to a satin finish, and it definitely needs to be topcoated.