Delicate

I've been on the hunt for the perfect lavender for weeks, and it felt like I was never going to find it.

I wanted something pastel, but not chalky. Something that was clearly purple, but not too saturated. And it couldn't be too pink, or too blue, or too grey.

In the end, I found my perfect lavender...but not in a store. I found it in my existing stash!
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This is another beautiful Forever21 Love&Beauty polish, named "Dusty Lavender". It is the daintiest pale lavender with a whisper of fine magenta shimmer that only comes out in the sun. Shown here I've layered 2 coats of Sally Hansen Glass Slipper, an ethereal clear flakie, over Dusty Lavender.

Dusty Lavender has a really awesome pigmented formula that's 3 thin coats to opacity. You'd probably be able to pull off 2 if you do thicker coats, even more impressive considering how it's such a pale pastel. Application is a breeze, and this polish unexpectedly dries with a matte finish which is very nice on its own, almost a suede or velvety feeling and less chalkboard-like.

Orange Creamsicle

A few weeks ago I came across the cutest dress, made of airy peach cotton speckled with white polka dots. Adorable, but I've already used up my dress budget for this season and this particular one is not exactly cheap. And so I resisted, and all this time that sunny, cheerful peach color lurked in the back of my mind.

Last Thursday I stopped by Sephora to peruse the 50% off display of Sephora by OPI and picked up a bottle of $OPI What's Your Sign, a creamy, shimmery peachy orange that reminded me exactly of that dress.

3 coats to opacity. It somehow manages to require that third coat even though it's fairly pigmented, but the formula is so nice it practically applies itself so it wasn't too bad.

Strawberry Milk

So I rarely come across a color that I dislike, so when I do it comes as a surprise. The color in question is Essie Pop Art Pink, and what prompted me to buy it was Scrangie's swatch which made it look like milky pink perfection.

Where to begin...first of all this looked much cooler-toned than I anticipated, which I'm not fond of. Pop Art Pink is a light milky pink jelly. My skin is very warm and cool toned reds and pinks always seem to clash horribly. It's also a very "Barbie-ish" pink, which while pretty is just not my style. I lean more toward the blush and antique-pink hues.

The formula is very sheer and rather streaky. Shown here is 4 thin coats, because it was patchy and uneven at 3 despite my best application skills. I do love the milkiness and slight translucency of it, though. If I don't swap this away I'm considering tinkering with the color a bit to more suit my taste.

Funnily enough, since this bottle is the "retail" version sold at drugstores rather than the "salon" version, the sticker on top of the cap reads "Poppy Art Pink". I've noticed these changes between the retail and salon versions--i.e. "Lapiz of Luxury" rather than "Lapis of Luxury". Why the unnecessary name changes, Essie? Is it supposed to make the names more personable to the barbaric masses who don't know what Pop Art is and sub Z's for their S's? Hahaha.

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.

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.

Electric Pineapples

I've gone from apples to pineapples. The weather's blisteringly hot here in NYC, like high 90s, and I'm about ready to die (I can't stand heat!). I donned this bright yellow to contrast with that purple drop-waist dress I got from Urban Outfitters.

Shown here is 3 coats of Revlon Electric topped with 2 coats of Revlon Pineapple Fizz. By itself, Electric is a banana yellow with a fine yellow micro-shimmer, and a dupe to Chanel Mimosa. It has a passable formula for a yellow; it's a bit thick and I had to use 3 coats because it was slightly patchy at 2, but as yellows go it was well-pigmented and not overly watery. I did have some bubbling issues, but I suspect it's a user error (since I have managed to get a bubble-free mani out of this polish before).

Bubbling, unlike popular belief, is not caused by air bubbles in the liquid polish, and the bubbles aren't really air; it is actually caused by the evaporating gases being trapped between layers of polish, which happens if the top surface of a polish dries before the polish beneath has dried sufficiently. I do want to note that this happens in particular with slow-drying polishes, which is ironic since this is supposed to be the "Top Speed" line, but I digress. Next time I plan on thinning this and waiting longer between coats.

To hide the bubbles, I applied 2 coats of Pineapple Fizz on top. Pineapple Fizz is a sheer yellow polish with tiny clear flakies and iridescent shimmers. The tint in the polish made Electric a much brighter yellow color, and also gave my nails a fake but pleasant sugary pineapple scent. You can smell it through topcoat, but it fades after a day or two.

Jelly Apples

This week my nails have been painted red, red, red, with a classic--Essie Jelly Apple. I'm always tempted to throw some glitter over any mani that crosses my path, but for once I resisted with this one, and I love it. There is just something so glam about a simple red mani, and I'm definitely going to be wearing it a lot more often whenever I feel like letting my inner pinup loose. Jelly Apple in particular is super shiny and juicy looking with a lot of depth, and it looks like candy on my nails.

At first coat, Jelly Apple pulls very blue-toned; in fact I was incredibly disappointed because I was sure it would be too cool for my skin, which is very warm and looks awful with blue-toned reds. But at second coat all my fears were assuaged because as it builds in opacity the overtly cool tint evens itself out to a lovely glassy red that doesn't pull blue at all.

Jelly Apple has a very nice formula that practically applies itself. Here I'm wearing 4 thin coats. You could probably be okay at 3 coats if you don't mind the tiniest bit of visible nail line.

Pinkie Promise!

I have a sparkly, stunning confection of an indie polish on today: Rainbow Honey Pinkie Promise! I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a fan of My Little Ponies--yes, it's a kid's cartoon, but something about the series is just so, so fun and kooky and endlessly entertaining, even for a 20-something like me.

"Nopony breaks a Pinkie promise!"-Pinkie Pie

I really want to collect all of Rainbow Honey's Equestria collection someday, but Pinkie Promise is by far my favorite! It's a spectacular party mix of fuschia, pink, gold, and light blue hex glitter and fuchsia, gold, and holographic bar glitter in a fantastically sparkle-packed pink base. I'm showing it here 2 coats over 3 coats of Wet 'n Wild 2% Milk, because I wanted neutral undies so that the base color of Pinkie Promise can be seen clearly. Even though Pinkie Promise looks to have a very light colored, sheer base, the color is actually quite vibrant!

Pinkie Promise has the very thick formula characteristic of polishes as chock full of glitter as this one, which makes it tricky to apply. The dab technique doesn't utilize itself well here since it has a colored base; I handled the application simply by getting a good amount of polish on the brush and soldiering on. I won't lie, it got a bit painful at times, but the results were SO worth it that I'll probably just add a few drops of thinner to it next time and keep on swimming.

It's worth noting that this baby STAINS--I'm currently sporting a myriad of electric fuchsia splotches on my nekkid nails--so be sure to use a suitable basecoat, even if you're wearing this with undies, because 2% Milk did absolutely nothing to prevent ol' Pinkie from bleeding right through.

You can get Rainbow Honey Pinkie Promise for $10/15ml or $5/7ml on her site rainbowhoney.com!

My Milkshake

It's time for another palette cleanser! I happened to see a swatch of Wet 'n Wild Megalast 2% Milk and liked it immediately--plus I don't have many pale-colored jellies in my collection, so it was a good fit. It was certainly nice by itself, but I couldn't leave it well enough alone so I sandwiched a coat of OPI Lights of Emerald City inbetween two layers each of 2% Milk. Have I mentioned I'm a sucker for food-themed names? I don't even like 2% milk (I'm much more partial to whole milk, or hemp milk if I can get it), but it's still a fun and cute name for polish.

2% Milk has a good formula for such a light color, and it flowed on the nail easily without being watery or streaky. It's a very nice, clean color that isn't as stark as a plain white; I'd call it an off-white or ivory.

Lights of Emerald City is a unique bird--I haven't seen another polish quite like it, even though the glitter combination of small iridescent squares and large matte white squares is a pretty simple mix. It is glitter-packed, so you don't have to fish for the big pieces of glitter (although giving the brush a swirl in the bottle helps get more of the larger white glitters on the brush).

Overall I really like this combination and I can definitely see myself wearing it again when I'm in the mood for something simple and refreshing.

Galaxy Girl

Continuing with my vampies-in-spring thing, here is ORLY Galaxy Girl, another much-lusted over color from the Cosmic FX collection! I first spied this color on Lacquerized's blog in a tutorial post, and then proceeded to read every single one of her posts until I had figured out what color it was. I should also note that this color was the color that got me into looking up the entire Cosmic FX collection (and then promptly falling for each and every one of them). Plus, it really has such a fun name! Out of all the names for this collection, Galaxy Girl is my favorite.

Galaxy Girl is a striking foil-duochrome with a burgundy-purple base and turquoise and purple sparkle. It reached opacity in 3 coats. The formula is quite thin and a little watery, not the easiest thing to handle but not a complete nightmare either. I did notice that I got tipwear rather quickly with it...but it may be due to the Seche Vite (which I'm still testing, tentatively--I've confirmed it gives me shrinkage on occasion) so I'm holding off on blaming Galaxy Girl just yet, since I've never had any problems with ORLY's wear in the past.

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!

Cosmic Daylights

My mani for this week is one of those colors that you've wanted for forever, and yet when you finally get it, it sits unworn in your drawer for months while you're distracted by other pretties. As previously mentioned, the ORLY Cosmic FX collection is THE collection that got me into polish, and Hailey's Comet is one of my favorites from that collection--teal is one of my favorite colors, after all, how could I not? Hailey's Comet is a dupe for OPI Catch Me In Your Net and Zoya Charla, but ORLY is definitely my favorite brand in terms of wear and price.

After wearing Hailey's by itself for a few days, tipwear was starting to appear thanks to the shrinkage I got while testing Seche Vite. I wasn't ready to give up my gorgeously sparkling tips just yet, so I patched them up with an extra coat of Hailey's Comet and did a glitter gradient mani with OPI The Living Daylights.

Hailey's Comet is a foil that applied in an easy 3 coats, and had a nice, thin formula that wasn't too watery. The gold particles among the teal was completely stunning! Topped with The Living Daylights, which is a mix of champagne gold, silver, copper, and teal hex glitters, made a great contrast. I don't much like it simply layered over the entire nail, but it's so much fun when done into a gradient mani! The dab method was most effective in depositing glitters with this mani, as the glitter pieces didn't seem to want to leave the brush.

Overall this is one of my favorite manis in a while! It really screams summer to me--I'll definitely be wearing this combination again throughout the warmer months.

Pastels...for Spring. Groundbreaking.

I'd apologize for the inconsistent posting, but let's be honest...this is going to be a regular thing. So, onward! Today's mani is Lynnderella Ghost of a Chance over Essie Marshmallow. I know, layering white matte and pastel glitters over a white is SO obvious, SO done...anyone care to guess exactly how many fucks I give about that? As far as I'm concerned, pastels over white go together like butter and raspberry jam (and if you guessed 0 fucks, you were correct).

I mean, look at this:

Ghost of a Chance is composed of multi-sized pastel matte glitter containing white and pink satin hearts and holographic microglitter. The formula was workable; most of the smaller glitters brush on with no problem. I did have to "place" the larger heart glitters, but it wasn't too difficult. My mani here was done with 2 normal coats of Ghost, with placed heart glitter. Marshmallow was streaktastic as usual, requiring 3 coats until it even began to resemble evenness, but until I find a better white jelly, it's here to stay as a staple base color.

Lynnderella Ghost of a Chance is available for purchase through her Ebay store for $23!

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!

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.

Valentine's Day

So V-day is a commercialized holiday. Still doesn't mean it's not fun to dress up! I'll be wearing my heart backseam tights and red cardigan at work today, with Revlon Candy Apple Lip Butter...and on my nails, OPI Guy Meets Gal-veston topped with Happy Hands Cadance.

Cadance is filled with pale pink and hot pink glitters of various shapes and sizes, blue/purple iridescent glitter, and pale pink heart glitter! It's a perfect pairing for Guy Meets Gal-veston. Cadance has a nice, easy formula and was very easy to work with. It was a limited edition polish created by by my pal Kristi of Happy Hands, with proceeds being donated to Covenant Pet Trust, a local non-profit organization!

This is 3 coats of Guy Meets Gal-veston with two coats of Cadance. You can get your own bottle of candylike goodness for $10 from Kristi's Etsy shop!

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.

Holographic Pokemon cards are better than regular, so I figured that applies to nail polish.

This is a mani done with Urban Outfitters Holo Pink. It's so pretty and shimmering and rainbow-y that I can't stop staring at my nails. I started a new job yesterday and even my coworkers noticed it--and when I mentioned what a hard time I'd been having finding employment, one guy said "well that's because you didn't show them your AWESOME nail paint"...hahaha.

in sunlight

in artificial light

with flash

These had a lovely, thin, easy-to-work with formula, very pigmented and packed with holographic pigments. It took only 2 coats to achieve opacity! One of the more expensive polishes in my collection, but to me it's completely worth it.

Urban Outfitters Holo Pink is $10 at your local UO :)

A Very Holo Holidays

I ordered a few things from Urban Outfitters yesterday, and right before checking out I remembered I wanted to get a few of their holographic nail polishes too. I pull up the page on their website only to see they were sold out online! Drat.

Today after my job interview I realized there was a UO right on the next block...the temptation to browse was too great (my eternal downfall) so I strolled in, and lo and behold, they had a huge display full of the holos! I picked up the pink and green "hologram" polishes. I'm still pretty happy since these are the first polishes in my collection to have such strong holo :D I might even have to go back and get the silver one too.  

 Urban Outfitters Hologram polishes are $10 each. They're sold out (for now--cross your fingers for a restock!) online, but you might still be able to find them at your local UO!

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!