Revlon Colorstay Nude Beige

Revlon Colorstay Nude Beige is from the Nude Expressions collection released this past Spring. The collection consists of 8 skintoned colors intended to help achieve a "mannequin hands" look. Of the 8, I thought Nude Beige looked closest to me, so I went with that. This is 3 coats, in the shade:

It's definitely not a match, but it's close enough, I guess. I really just got this to wear to work, and it does a good enough job pretending it doesn't exist. The formula is thick but good. It's one of those sort of sheer creme-jelly type polishes, so it needs 3 coats, but it's not streaky, and it's quite glossy alone.

So, not the most exciting color, but if we've got similar skintones and you need something appropriate for a conservative office, I would definitely recommend this.

Have you tried Nude Beige, or any of the other Colorstay Nudes? Thoughts?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great weekend!

OPI DS Indulgence

HAPPY FRIDAY! I don't know about you guys but I am SUPER stoked this Friday. Why? My presentations are over. They weren't formal presentations or anything, more like standing in front of my poster and presenting to whoever walked up and asked me about my project, but it went on for five hours. Also, my lower back and I learned the importance of supportive shoes. Oy. Anyway, I am so relieved, and it wasn't as bad as I had expected it to be. So let's end the week with one of my new favorites.

OPI DS Indulgence was one of two Designer Series colors released in Fall 2012. The other was Luxurious, a fiery orange foil that is quite pretty, but not really my thing. Indulgence, on the other hand, is perfect.

This is three thin coats, with no top coat. Application was excellent, and I didn't even have to clean up!

That gold shimmer is even more spectacular in the sun.

In case you couldn't tell, I'm really excited about this. More Top 20 material!

Zoya Kimmy and Zoya Reva struck me as similar, but they seem more foil-like, and Reva is more berry/pink. I do like the Zoya foils I've tried, but out of the three I'd go with Indulgence, personally. If you're in Europe, check out P2 Hot Berry! Like Kimmy, it is more of a foil than Indulgence, but the gold shimmer looks nice and visible.

Have you tried either of the two OPI Designer Series from last fall? What do you think?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great weekend!

Zoya Blaze

Hah, after a month straight of an indie, it almost feels a little odd to post a commercial polish! But this one is an absolute stunner. Zoya Blaze is from the Ornate collection, Zoya's offering for this past holiday season. The Ornate collection had the distinction of containing Zoya's first holos: Storm, Aurora, and Blaze. Predictably enough, I'm not crazy about the purple, but I was surprised to find that not only did  I not care for the black, I fell for the red/pink/berry/whatever you want to call it!

Prior to this, I had been having some trouble with my manis. Lots of disappointment. Unlike Eclectic, Valerie, and Kelly, Blaze was just delightful to work with. Smooth formula, with a good drying time. I found that Blaze was even in 2 coats, but a third added depth. Here it is in the sun:

I did apply top coat before taking these pictures, but I want to point out that it was quite shiny alone! You could forego the topcoat if you were so inclined. It's weird and unexpected how much I like this color. When I wore it, I even did my pedicure to match. That almost never happens.

Oh, and for the record, the holographic bits are a lot more rainbow-y in person. More camera problems...

So, my 3 year-old niece has picked up on my ever-changing nail color, and always grabs my hands to inspect them when she sees me. She seemed to really like this one, because when she looked at it she grinned at me and said, "Naz! Pretty color!!"

I can't think of any dupes for this. I know Picture Polish recently released Shocked, but that is a lighter and brighter pink. There's Ozotic Pro 621, which is definitely red with slightly orange-y undertones, Picture Polish Monroe, which is a vampy red. Not to mention, 621 and Monroe both have different kinds of scattered holo finishes! They are all pretty colors in their own right, but I'd still choose Blaze over them.

Have you tried Blaze, or any of the other Zoya Ornate colors? Thoughts?

HARE Star Tropics

Now here's a glitter that I am madly in love with. HARE Star Tropics is from Spring 2012, but was a very limited release due to some formula and glitter problems. I have experienced neither of those issues, but last I heard Nikole was reformulating, so hopefully it will be released with a future collection! It is absolutely gorgeous.

Star Tropics consists of 2 sizes of silver square glitter and small silver hex glitter in a blue jelly base. The base is very slightly blurple, but still distinctly blue. It sort of reminds me of Starry Starry Night, but on some hardcore steroids. With that in mind, I layered it over a dark blue. First, I tried it over Ruby Kisses Regaled Out Blue. 3 coats of the Ruby Kisses, 2 coats of Star Tropics, Gelous, and top coat.

I liked the combination, but felt like my base color didn't quite go. It doesn't have the slight indigo tinge to it, so the second time I decided to layer it over Revlon Urban, and that was perfect!

As you can see, I'm a bit rusty on my glitter application, lol. Fear of removal keeps me from wearing these crazy glitters, to be blunt! Since it's a super chunky glitter in a jelly base, it's not surprising that it's pretty thick, but application wasn't bad, and I had no trouble getting the giant squares onto my nails.

In case I haven't told you enough yet, I LOVE SQUARE GLITTER. Here's a closer look, from the first manicure I did:

The depth that the jelly base imparts is just awesome, even if it doesn't quite go.

As far as I know, there aren't any dupes of this out there. I don't know about you, but I'd love to have a glitter mix with these exact sizes and shapes, in a bunch of differently-colored bases. That would be AWESOME. If someone made a light grey creme/jelly (I still refuse to use the word "crelly") with matte, retina-searing hot pink glitter like this, I would be all over that. And aqua and yellow. Dark teal jelly and an antique-ish gold. I always have these ideas floating around in my head but I'm terrified of messing up and wasting money/supplies so I never actually get around to attempting any of them ._. Story of my life.

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great weekend!

OPI Don't Touch My Tutu + Le Metier de Beaute Moon's Glow

Whoa, long title. As soon as I put on OPI Don't Touch My Tutu, my mom walked in, saw my manicure, and excitedly declared that it would be a perfect base for one of her recent acquisitions: Le Metier de Beaute Moon's Glow. Turns out they actually sell decently-sized  bottles of polish now. Anyway, I think she was right! I used one thin coat of Moon's Glow over 3 coats of Don't Touch My Tutu, which was in turn layered over 2 coats of Essie Fill the Gap.

*gasp* A frost. I know. It's so not my style. And yet, I kinda like it? It's a nice change, if nothing else. 

It kind of reminds me of those satin-y pillowcases. Or pearls. Or fairy princess nails, as my buddy Dana phrased it.

Depressingly enough, I think the Le Metier de Beaute brush is probably my new favorite. Y AN EXPENSIVE TASTE? Womp womp. It's so good though. Sort of like the OPI Pro-Wide, but a bit shorter and slimmer, so application is much much easier.

As for dupes, CND Gold Shimmer is the closest color I can think of, but the CND is a lot less frosty, and of course, cheaper, so you will probably prefer that. 

I was actually eyeing another Le Metier polish somewhat recently: Dream Maker. It's this crazy vivid blurple. Really glossy creme, and so cool. But I wimped out, and I also figured it would be a huge pain in the ass to photograph. If you like purple/blurple/indigo/whatever you want to call it, you need to check it out.

What do you think? Have you ever found a frost you actually kinda liked (and are willing to admit it)? Have you tried any Le Metier de Beaute polishes?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great weekend!

OPI Don't Touch My Tutu

OPI Don't Touch My Tutu is from the NYC Ballet collection, OPI's Soft Shade offering for 2012. Despite being comprised almost entirely of sheers, the Ballets were quite popular amongst nail addicts. The one non-sheer polish was a lovely silver and white glitter called Pirouette My Whistle, which for some reason I've still not been able to find! The vast majority of those sheers aren't my cup of tea, but I've been lusting after a nice white jelly, so I decided to try this.

And I don't know about you all, but my nails are crazy stained. I mean, I have this ~gorgeous~ yellow gradient thing goin' on at my tips, so I figured I couldn't pull off a sheer. WRONG. Check this out.

So fresh, so clean. And I gotta tell y'all, the formula on this was perfect. Zero cleanup, effortless application. I used 3 coats of Don't Touch My Tutu over 2 coats of Essie Fill the Gap. No top coat on in these photos because I layered over it, and you will be seeing the result on Friday. Here it is in the sun:

You can see some of the weirdness in my nails when there's direct sunlight on 'em, but luckily that is not the usual lighting condition.

Being a white jelly, Don't Touch My Tutu has tons of possible alternatives out there. OPI Funny Bunny is one, but based off of swatches that seems like a more stark white. Definitely more opaque, too. Essie Marshmallow and Essie Waltz are also pretty standard white jellies, but I've heard that Marshmallow has a nightmarish formula. 

I kind of want another one of these sheers now. You Callin' Me A Lyre, probably. The beige one looks too close to the white, and I would probably look dead in the lilac and grey ones, sadly...

Have you tried any of the OPI Ballets? What did you think?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week!

Contrary Polish Anna Maria

Good morning! Today I'll be showing you my one of my favorite Contrary Polishes, Anna Maria. It was released in Fall 2012 with the Islands trio. The other two colors in the trio are Aruba and Santorini, which are a lighter bluish teal with green shimmer, and a bold royal blue with white shimmer. They're lovely, and definitely on my wish list, but in my opinion, Anna Maria is the standout.

Anna Maria is a gorgeous, slightly murky teal jelly with gold/yellow shimmer. Because it's a jelly, it needs 3 coats for opacity, but the formula is excellent. 3 coats, plus top coat, in the shade:

It's such a cool color! And so unique. The shimmer has a lovely texture. In the sun:

Come on, you gotta admit, this is pretty awesome. I can't think of any dupes for it.

Contrary Polish Firebrand

Contrary Polish Firebrand is one of the original six shades. According to Carrie, Firebrand is one of her top sellers, and I completely understand why! It seems like a pretty boring red, but it's really lovely.

I've told you countless times of my love for vampy reds, and this one is a shimmery jelly to boot! So pretty. I did use 4 super-thin coats, but they dried quickly, and zero bubbling. Bonus: it cleans up nicely! Most reds and vamps tend to spread their reddish pigment around when you try to clean up, so your skin looks angry and inflamed, but this is not an issue with Firebrand.

It has some berryish tones that keep it from being a plain dark red. This is such a flattering, classic color. Since it's a berryish red, I'm sure there's a dupe or something close out there, but I'm quite pleased with this one.

Have you tried Firebrand? What do you think?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week!

Pahlish Toxic and Timeless

Happy Friday, y'all! Today I've got Toxic and Timeless to show you. Just a note before I start with the photos, my bottle is from an older batch, has no bar glitter, and a darker, sheer teal jelly base. I think the barless batch was an anomaly, as was the sheer teal base. It's definitely a lot bluer than what's shown in the current listing, so I don't think this version exists anymore. Incidentally, I'm quite pleased with what I've got! Here is one coat over my franken, Across the Ocean. I had been wearing my franken for 5 days at that point, so I apologize for the growth. And for the cell phone picture, haha. I just really wanted to show you what this looked like!

Then I decided to layer 2 coats of Toxic and Timeless over Nails Inc. Kensington, the dark teal jelly/creme that was sold with the Wyndham flakie. Here it is on day 1:

I put this on just before finals last semester, so I had no time or energy to think about the state of my manicures. I made an excellent choice though, because check out the wear on this mani. Day 10:

There's growth and a bit of tip wear, but it never lost that glossy shine. I am quite pleased.

Toxic and Timeless is quite thick, but it's not unmanageable by any means. I despise greenish yellows, chartreuse, all that fun stuff, so I'm quite surprised to say that I love the bright hexes in this. They just...work. And when you add an additional coat of Toxic and Timeless, the sheer teal base turns the hexes into an awesome lime green.

I don't have any other Pahlishes, but I think Prayers for Rain and Like Calendars Dying are calling for me. Added to the ever-growing wishlist...

Have you tried Toxic and Timeless, or any other Pahlishes? Did it wear as well for you as it did for me?

Franken: Across the Ocean

Since it was released, Deborah Lippmann's Across the Universe has been a favorite for many polish addicts. I briefly succumbed to the hype, but realized pretty quickly it wasn't actually my thing, so it went off to someone who would appreciate it more. I am a big teal lover though, and figured I would like a similar polish in that color scheme, so I decided to make one. Because I am so super creative and original (/sarcasm), I'm calling it Across the Ocean.

That is 5 coats. I kept it really freaking sheer because I didn't want to lose the glitter.

It's got quite a bit of depth. Not sure why I've got a bottle of Essie drying drops in the above picture, but we'll just go with it.

Boom. Glitter. It wore really well on me too- 5 days, no chips, no tip wear. Just the expected growth at the cuticle end. It makes a pretty great base for Pahlish Toxic and Timeless, which I'll be showing you on Friday.

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week!

Top 30 of 2012! (part 3)

I don't post a whole lot of layering combinations, but that's mostly because I don't get around to photographing them. Here are the colors that I've reached for the most. First up, the base colors.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Dorien Grey

A nice, simple, clean light grey creme. It's so versatile!

Ruby Kisses Regaled Out Blue

Dark blue goes with a lot of things, and I can't resist a nice jelly.

China Glaze VIII

An excellent basic eggplant creme. Smooth formula, dries quickly, completely solid in 2 coats.

Nails Inc. Kensington

Inky teal jelly, almost black. Works really well for water marbling, too!

New York Summer Hot Sky Blue

Another squishy blue jelly! This is great for jelly sandwiches, and also looks awesome under flakies.

And my favorite layering polishes:

Lynnderella Connect the Dots

Yep, it's on two of my lists. It's that good. With black and white glitter, there are so many layering possibilities!

Nails Inc. the Wyndham

This has the distinction of being my first flakie polish, and it remains my favorite. The green is so vivid, and there is a very evident blue shift.

Finger Paints Asylum

It has blue flakies!! I have been lusting after a flakie with just blue, but since I loathe Nfu Oh bottles and find Inglot to be too much of a hassle to get ahold of, this is as close as I will get for a while. It is lovely though.

Essie As Gold as it Gets

Sheer gold flecks. This is really delicate and pretty, especially over dusty, mid-toned colors.

Essie Shine of the Times

A basic orange-green flakie. It's very dense, so you don't need  much at all for a single manicure.

So, there you have it! My 30 favorites from last year. Thoughts? Do you like layering too, or do you find it troublesome?

Top 30 of 2012! (part 2)

Today I'll show you my favorite indies. To be fair, I don't own many indies, 13 or 14, but for the most part, I really like the ones that I have!

HARE King of Carat Flowers

Unique glitters in a light grey base? Sold. And hello, there's square glitter!!

HARE Cast in Bronze

Application with this one was difficult, but I can forgive that for such a beautiful color. And look, more squares!

HARE Star Tropics

Can you tell I like square glitter? This was my mani for New Year's, and while it is quite thick, the end result is fantaaaaaaastic.

Across the Ocean

This is a franken that I made over the summer! Although I'm not an indie seller (and do not ever plan on becoming one), I threw this one in here because it doesn't really fit in anywhere else. I'm sure you can guess what my reference was when I made this ;)

Contrary Polish Firebrand

I've told you time and again of my love for reds, vampies, and jellies, so it makes perfect sense that I love Firebrand.

Contrary Polish Inky Fingers

Just a note: Inky Fingers is more purple than it looks in my picture. It's like the dark, inky, moody sister of Sephora Pantone Parachute Purple. Excellent formula, and really cool shimmer.

Contrary Polish Anna Maria

Contrary Polish makes some really cool, unexpected shimmers. Murky teal with yellow shimmer? LOVE.

Twili

This one was a custom, and I am absolutely in love with the result. Great formula, and the balance of shimmer to base color is just perfect.

Pahlish Toxic and Timeless

I have an older, barless version of this polish, and it is just so freaking cool. The wear is amazing too. I wore this for ten days! When I get to blogging about this properly, you'll see the end result.

Lynnderella Connect the Dots

Even though this was released in 2011, it has a spot on my list because it's that awesome. Yes, there are 75083672308573028 different versions of this out there, but this has the distinction of having the only bar glitter that I don't hate. I actually like it. What.

Thoughts? Do we have any indie favorites in common? I know it took me a very long time to warm up to indies (aside from Lynnderella, whom I ordered from a few months after she opened), so I'm curious, have you jumped on the indie bandwagon?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're doing well!

Reswatch: Revlon Devil's Candy

Devil's Candy is my favorite red jelly, so I figured I'd reswatch because...yeah. Why not.

2 coats, super smooth formula, lots of general awesomeness. In the sun:

This was a limited edition polish from last fall, but I think the core color Fearless is quite close. I've already got too many red jellies, so I didn't get that one, but in the bottle it looks pretty close. I keep meaning to do a comparison between some of my reds, but it hasn't happened yet. Someday...

Thoughts? Feelings? Are you a red jelly addict like me?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great weekend!

Essie Wicked

Today I'm going to show you Essie Wicked. I don't think this came out with any particular collection, but it's widely regarded as a classic, and with good reason. Wicked is a squishy, vampy red jelly that is just full of win. 3 coats, plus top coat, in the shade:

In the sun:

You do have to be careful with application, as it can stain your cuticles red if you get the polish on your skin. And because it is a jelly, it can be a bit streaky, so you would do well to give it a few minutes between coats.

But just look at that shine! So cool. So awesome.

To be fair, this isn't exactly a unique color. Between Essie, Revlon, and OPI, you have tons of alternatives available. I think the OPI colors are mainly cremes rather than jellies, but Revlon has Devil's Lure, and Essie has many many vampy jellies out there. I'd list them all but...

Have you tried Wicked, or anything similar? Thoughts?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week!