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!

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!

Color Club Cherubic

Color Club Cherubic is from the first Halo Hues collection that was released late last year. That collection consisted of your standard pastel holographics, so I wasn't that excited, but I've been holding out on buying linear holos for a couple years in the hopes that cheaper, flashier ones with better formulas would be released. No Nfu Ohs (that bottle, BLEGH), no Laylas (bad formula, too expensive), no HITS (not a fan of that finish, bottle shape, or price). So basically, the Color Clubs are exactly what I was waiting for. Was I disappointed? HECK NO.

Cherubic is supposed to be a tan/nude holo, but I think I'm too warm-toned for that to work, so it's more like beige. 2 coats, no top coat, in the shade.

You can still see a weak rainbow, even in the shade! My OMGs, in this lighting condition, displayed no rainbow whatsoever. Here's a better look at the base color:

See what I mean? Not a nude for me, but still a very nice color. Now, let's look at it in the sun.

BAM. RAINBOWS. Awesome. Love. I used base coat, but no top coat. Application was perfect, and it was solid in 2 coats. I also love how quickly it dries! I slapped on a coat of Essie Fill the Gap and 2 coats of Cherubic, and my manicure was solid in 5-7 minutes. I also bought Harp On It and Beyond, and while I haven't photographed those yet, I have worn them and I gotta tell you, they are just as awesome. Yes, they do chip quickly, within 1-2 days for me, but holos are pretty notorious for their bad wear, so I don't think it's a big deal.

Since these Color Clubs were based off of Nfu Oh holos, it probably isn't surprising that Cherubic is similar to Nfu Oh 62, and by extension, Make Up Store Madeleine. Layla Coral Glam is also a nude, depending on your skintone, but it is a lot more peachy.

Have you tried any of these holos? What do you think?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have 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!

Top 30 of 2012! (part 1)

So, about a year ago I showed you my all-time favorites. I was going to do it again on the same day, but obviously that didn't happen because I am lame. I was also going to show you how my all-time favorites have changed in the last year, but I don't think they've changed a whole lot, so instead I will show you three lists over the next three days: my ten favorite polishes released this year, my ten favorite indies, and my ten favorites for layering (both base colors and layering polishes).

Several of them, I have not yet blogged about, so you'll be getting a sneak peek of some upcoming posts. And there are a few polishes for which I've not even taken photos, so you'll get a few bottle photos here and there. So, let's get started!

OPI Did You Ear About Van Gogh?

This year, I tried nude cremes! I'm still overwhelmed by all the combinations of hue, undertone, etc. but this one kinda works! It's greyish and cool-toned, but I think it has enough yellow in it that it sort of works. Regardless of my skintone weirdness, this is a great color with a great formula.

Revlon Urban

LOVE. Shiny, squishy dark blue creme with slight purple undertones. Great formula.

Essie Penny Talk

I've told you of my weakness for coppers, and this pretty much epitomizes it. One of the worst formulas I've ever worked with, but I can't resist the color! I'm even willing to forgive some brushstrokes for it.

Illamasqua Charisma

As you probably know, I'm not a pink fan. But this dark berry has some reddish undertones, and that shimmer. I just love it. Great pedicure color, too.

OPI I Have a Herring Problem

This is definitely one of OPI's better names, and one of their better colors too. Despite the sheerness, I love the finish and color, and the application is great.

Essie Ole Caliente

Coral is not really my thing but this is so pretty. It's reddish enough that I don't feel that weird wearing it, and Ole Caliente makes for an awesome summery pedicure.

Deborah Lippmann Cleopatra in New York

I'm not sure how she does it, but Deborah Lippmann really nails the balance of base color to glitter. The black base is opaque, but the gold still shines through, and the end result has so much depth. Plus, you can't go wrong with black and gold. (cue Sam Sparro playing in the background)

Essence Walk on the Wild Side

Really, I could have put all four of the new Colour & Go's on this list, but since I only left space for one, I chose this. Formula could be better, but the finish is great.

Nails Inc. Baker Street

I bet no one was expecting this. /sarcasm
Seriously though, how can you resist such a bold blue?

Revlon Guest List

In addition to nude cremes, I also tried an olive green for the first time this year. The formula is less than stellar, but I really like this.

Thoughts? Do we have any mainstream/mass-produced favorites in common? Tell me about yours!

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

OPI Rose Petals

OPI Rose Petals was released with the 2005 Soft Shades collection. It's a mauve-y, pinkish nude sheer that needs 4 coats for opacity. I borrowed this from my roommate, and I'm quite glad I did so instead of buying this, because it is just...not good.

See what I mean? It's too cool, and waaaaay too pink for me. The formula is fine, pretty standard for a semi-sheer polish, but this is not a flattering color. In the sun:

A little bit better now, but still. Bleh. So, there you have it. If you're tan, warm, and yellow-toned, stay awaaaaay.

Have you tried Rose Petals? Thoughts? Feelings?

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

Essie Brooch the Subject + Shine of the Times

Essie Brooch the Subject was released as a part of Essie's Cocktail Bling collection for Winter 2011, and Shine of the Times is part of the Luxeffects collection released at the same time.

Brooch the Subject is a nude creme. I'm so clueless about nudes that I don't really know how to describe it, haha. This did photograph more yellow than it is IRL though.

It's almost opaque in 2 coats, but there were some uneven patches so it definitely needed the third. Just a note: I took these first two photos before the polish dried completely, and I didn't use any base coat, so there are some visible ridges. They did even out after drying though, as you can see here:

I've never actually tried a nude nail polish before, because I am so clueless about undertones and whatnot. When I decided I wanted a nude creme, I limited myself to just Essie polishes to make the decision a little easier, but still wound up spending several minutes holding different bottles up to the light and trying to figure out whether or not they might work for me. Eventually, I wound up just getting this one because I got too confused, lol. Luckily, I think this works? It doesn't match my skin completely, but it's great for a nice, clean look.

Since I can pretty much never leave cremes alone, I added a thin coat of Essie Shine of the Times. Some of these photos were taken before top coat, so some texture is visible, but it was perfectly smooth afterward.

It's a nice subtle look, but the flakies still show up nicely against the nude base.

There was practically no sun yesterday when I took these, but the sun came out for just a couple of minutes and I was able to take this shot. The flakies don't show up too well in direct sunlight, but on the bright side, I finally got an accurate depiction of the way Brooch the Subject looks against my skintone!

And here's the obligatory shot at an awkward angle to show the color shift:

Thanks for looking, and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Essence Irreplaceable

Essence Irreplaceable is from the 99-cent Colour & Go line, which I've only seen at Ulta, but I've heard that they're also available at a store called Fred Meyer that doesn't exist where I live. They're marketed as fast-dry polishes, and I can attest to that, which is good because Irreplaceable took 4 coats to become opaque. Four. For a jelly or holo I'm usually okay with four coats, but a simple shimmer? That's too much, in my opinion, especially since the Colour & Go polishes are in mini bottles to begin with. As a result, 2 full manicures with Irreplaceable have used up a little over 1/3 of the bottle. At least it's only 99 cents, right? And Irreplaceable is actually a really pretty color. Take a look:

It's a sandy, beige-ish nude with tons of flecks of gold shimmer.

Yeah, my skin is definitely too warm for this, but look at that shimmer!

Since 1/3 of my bottle is already gone, I can probably just franken with it. I bet the gold shimmer would look great in a green base! If I remember to do it, you'll hopefully see it this Friday.

Thanks for looking!