Mintcicle

I have a *lot* of polishes (three guesses how many), and inevitably some of them have never been worn. That number is dwindling since I do my nails 2-3 times a week, and often layer two or more polishes at a time. Essie Mint Candy Apple was one of these. What's a little disheartening is I remember how much I LOVED the color of this polish at the time when I bought it, when it first came out in Winter 2009, but it went untried until now.

This is 2 coats of Mint Candy Apple, which applies fairly easily for a pastel. I was actually expecting it to be too thick just by the look of it, but it has a nice consistency and very good opacity for such a light color. Mint Candy Apple, while certainly minty, actually has a slight turquoise tint to it, more like Wintergreen Tic Tacs than actual straight-up mint green. It dries slightly darker than the color in the bottle.

As a topper, I applied 2 coats of OPI Pirouette My Whistle, which is one of my favorite topping glitters, filled with silver microglitter and pearly white hex glitter.

Leprechaun Day

For St. Patrick's Day I have an old mani (actually from *last* year's St. Patrick's Day) to show you; I was busy with school and work and actually didn't have the chance to don this polish this year...nevertheless I hope you enjoy the gorgeous Zoya Ivanka!

 
Ivanka is a stunning emerald green glassfleck with hints of gold at certain angles. I'm wearing 3 coats here. The formula was thin and flowed easily, so I had no problems with application.

Jeweled Lizards

Nail of the Day is OPI Just Spotted the Lizard from the Spiderman Collection, one of the many dupes of last year's very popular Chanel Peridot.

JStL is opaque at three thin coats and has pretty decent duochrome action going on, pale gold with turquoise-green flash. Just for fun, though, I stuck it underwater to bring out the full strength of the duochrome:

BAM. Underwater you can see the strong teal shift that appears in the corners of the bottle but never makes an appearance on the nail...under normal circumstances, at least.

Just Spotted the Lizard has a very thin, pleasant formula that is easy to work with, and that coupled with the OPI Pro Wide brush (which not everyone loves, but I do) makes applying this color a cinch. Since it is a metallic, it will have a tendency to show brushstrokes, but if you have good technique it shouldn't be difficult to get a smooth application.

St. Patrick's Day2

OPI Jade is the New Black + Sinful Colors Green Ocean

I see what people were saying when they said Green Ocean's mylar flakies are chunky...a few flakes decided to wrinkle up in horrible lumps on my nail, and it took FOUR coats of GCS to smooth it out! Yikes. On the plus side my nails have achieved a glassy perfection that they rarely do thanks to all the extra topcoat.

Mint + Apple = Delicious?

I'm not sure how people who name polishes come to their decisions, but the names of two polishes I've come across recently, Essie Mint Candy Apple and Sinful Colors Mint Apple polish. Since when have mint and apples ever gone together, culinarily or otherwise?

Regardless, Sinful's Mint Apple is a pretty unique color. Despite mint green polish being all the rage the past few years, this color manages to stand out. It's more of a tropical-feeling, green-blue aqua than pastel like the ones we've seen (Essie Mint Candy Apple, American Apparel Office, Milani Dressmaker, Chanel Jade). It also has a pale gold (most nail polish blogs cite it as silver, but to my eye at least when scrutinized closely it's definitely gold) shimmer, more noticeable than the barely-there shimmer of the infamous Chanel Jade. It adds a nice twinkly effect.

The formula in application is okay, requiring 3 thin coats to be opaque which is about average. Its durability though is great, surviving a week with only a tiny chip on my thumb which was casualty of opening a soda can.

pardon the purple tinge at the edges of my cuticles, I attempted to apply a grape jelly polish which stained my nails purple.


















Sinful Colors nail polish is carried at Walgreens and Duane Reade drugstores. I got mine at Duane Reade, being a New Yorker, but if you live anywhere else Walgreens is a good bet. At $1.99...sheesh if you like mint green polishes at all just get it. It'll make you happy. Trust me.