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.

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.

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.

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.

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.