Water Marble: Essie Brooch the Subject and Ole Caliente

Goooooood morning! I water marbled again, as you can see.

No top coat, because I am impatient and accidentally smeared the nails on my right hand when I applied it. Look:

Smearing aside, I am pretty happy with how these designs came out!

One thing that bugs me about water marbling: pretty much every time I do it, I get at least one tiny bubble. Here, you can see it on the ring fingernail of my right hand. It's tiiiiiny, but it bothered me, so I tried carefully popping it with the very tip of my cleanup brush, and of course, the base color now shows through. Oh well.

Thoughts? Would anyone happen to have any tips on avoiding those tiny bubbles?

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

SHCSM Greige

SHCSM Greige was not released with a particular collection, as far as I know, but is one of the new-ish colors released with the revamped Complete Salon Manicure line. I'm not sure why they felt the need to revamp it, as the two new ones I've obtained have the same formula as my older ones...but whatever. Greige, as you may have guessed...is a greige creme.

It sort of annoys me that the label on my bottle is so crooked. But the formula isn't bad. It's not great, a thick 3-coater, but it's not that bad.

This is among the colors I got so I would have things to wear to work that wouldn't bore the bejeezus out of me. And I have to say, I do like this one. I always thought I had to stick to cool-toned greys, and avoid taupe-y colors, but I feel like this one is working for me.

It's also quite glossy alone. I didn't use top coat here. Oh, and I should note that this is quite different from SHCSM Greige Gardens. Greige is darker, leans slightly brown, and has no purple in it whatsoever. Greige also has a better formula, but I like both colors.

Once again, this isn't the most unique color. The first similar one that comes to mind is Essie Chinchilly, which looks a bit lighter and just a smidge more brown. Same goes for American Apparel Mouse. You probably won't go wrong with any of the three.

Have you tried Greige, or any of the other new-ish SHCSMs? Thoughts?

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

OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh?

Yaaaay it's Friday! Unfortunately, my exam schedule is starting to get into high gear, so we'll see whether or not I can keep up with posting this semester...I might switch to posting on weekends instead, lol. I dunno. We'll see. I'll definitely peace out for a bit once finals approach.

Anyway, today I have for you my new favorite neutral! OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh? is from the Holland Collection for Spring 2012. It's a really strange choice for me, but I. Love. It. 2 thin coats, no top coat.

As you can see, it is a sandy beige with some strong grey tones. I'll admit, this was a total impulse buy, and I kind of expected to hate it as I started my manicure, but luckily I experienced the opposite outcome. In the sun:

Now, let's talk about the formula. It is fantastic. I had no trouble with the Pro-Wide. At the first coat, it was kinda runny and watery so it flooded a bit, but I quickly got the hang of it. It's actually passable at a single coat, if you were so inclined! This will definitely be one of my go-to colors when I'm in a hurry. It dries nice and quick.

Honestly, I suck at comparing neutrals, but Zoya Farah is apparently a dupe. It's interesting, Zoya and OPI apparently had quite a bit of overlap last spring...but if you're anything like me, Zoya cremes do not work so well for you, so I would recommend this over Farah.

Have you tried OPI Did You Ear About Van Gogh? Or was there perhaps another color that you expected to hate, but wound up loving?

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

SHCSM Greige Gardens + Lynnderella Connect the Dots

SHCSM Greige Gardens is a relatively new core color. I don't know details of the release, but I started seeing it in stores last spring. I love these types of greige/purple-y colors, but I always worry about how they'd look against my skintone, so I never bought any, but I recently found Greige Gardens on clearance at Target, and decided to cave. I'm glad I did, because it is lovely.

This is 4 coats, without top coat. It dries glossy, and the formula is smooth, but it's a lot more sheer than I think a creme should be. 4 coats for a creme is a bit much. I'm hoping this will go the way of Dorien Grey and improve with time, because I really like this color.

Then I decided to top it with 2 coats of Lynnderella Connect the Dots, and one coat of Gelous. I am in love with this combination.

YAY, square glitter! Those black squares are my favorite part of Connect the Dots, aside from the gigantic black hexes. I know there are tons of alternatives and approximations of Connect the Dots out there, and lots of drama associated with all this, but I still think this one is the nicest. Even with the bar glitter. Can't believe I'm saying this, but I think the bar glitter fits in really nicely with the other glitters, without reminding me of bacilli or beard trimmings.

It's also worth noting that I've now had this polish for roughly a year and a half, and I've had no issues with sinking glitter, or warping/bleeding/melting, so I'm very pleased in that regard. I totally understand why extensive testing isn't practical for indies, but it is still one of my concerns as a consumer, so I thought I'd throw that in there. If only Lynnderellas still cost $12...

Now, let's talk about similar polishes. For Greige Gardens, three polishes come to mind: Parlez Vous OPI?, A-England Guinevere, and China Glaze Below Deck. Parlez Vous OPI is warmer, more purple, and discontinued; Guinevere is more purple, although I have a hard time judging warmth vs. coolness because of variations between swatches; and Below Deck is darker, warmer, and more purple. Below Deck is definitely the most different of the four.

Connect the Dots, as I've previously mentioned, has a buttload of cousins. I vaguely considered listing them, but ain't nobody got time for that. Except for Chalkboard Nails. Her black & white glitter mega post is awesome and really helpful, so I'll just direct you over there, and you can see for yourself.

Greige seems to be one of those love it or hate it sorts of colors- how do you feel about it? Have you tried Greige Gardens, or Connect the Dots? Or perhaps any of the other black and white glitters? Thoughts?

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

First Post: Estee Lauder Surreal Violet!

I've been toying with the idea of starting a nail polish blog for a while now, and I finally decided to give it a shot! If nothing else, this will at least give me a place to compile all my photos. I still have a lot to learn about application and taking photos, but hopefully you'll see some improvement as I continue to post!

As you might have guessed, today's post deals with Estee Lauder Surreal Violet. 

I'm not a fan of the size and price of Estee Lauder polish. 0.3 oz for $18? Seriously? I have to admit though, Surreal Violet is amazing. It's a really nice, understated neutral with amber shimmer. On me, it turns into a purple-ish beige.

The formula is decent, but it's definitely a 3-coater. I know a lot of people hate the wide brushes present in Dior and Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polish, but the brush on Estee Lauder polish makes application a lot easier for me.