Sea Blossom (Orly)

 I kinda hated my previous polish so much I just covered it up with this one and I'm so glad I did!

Sea Blossom (Orly)

It's been so long since I have worn a baby pink and in two coats it covered up all the sins of Wistful Water Lily including the weird bubbling! 

Any imperfections are on me; I applied this with my ceiling fan going AND committed the nail polish heresy of tacking it on top of another polish without removing it.

More of these pretty cremes, please Orly!
Throw all the pearl pigments in the trash and never look back!

Wistful Water Lily (Orly)

 From the Aqua Aura Spring 2024 collection from Orly.

Wistful Water Lily (Orly)

Not going to lie, I did not like it. I also got a lot of bubbling although that one's likely on me for having cuticle oil on my nails before I applied my two coats. 

I just can't get down with the pearly look in this collection. It's also so very sheer! I still have some staining from my time in acrylics and I hate that it showed through.

Sigh, this next collection better not be full of pearly finishes or I will absolutely regret my Colorpass subscription.

$elf Made (OPI)

 From the OPI Your Way Spring 2024 collection.

I made the mistake of applying this with the ceiling fan going so it didn't get to show off its self-leveling chops because it kept drying too fast, hence the weird levels. Entirely user-error on an otherwise gorgeous polish.

$elf Made (OPI)

Beau Khaki (Sinful Colors)

Coming back to nail polish after a very long time. I want to continue to use this space to document what I have and how it looks on me. Going to try to release any urge to compare my application skills (which have obviously regressed) and my nails to more professional bloggers. 

This is for me. So I want to keep that as the focus. 

Okay. Intentions set.

Now back to an old favorite with an absolutely horrible name. You can tell how old the bottle is from this picture. Still love this green though. 

Beau Khaki (Sinful Colors)

Sansa (Zoya)

Zoya has had some absolutely stunning collection, and one of those was the Fall 2014 Ignite collection this polish is from. Sansa is a gorgeous eggplant base packed with gold and purple shimmer. It's a bit thin, but worth the three coats it takes to apply.

Cosmo (Zoya)

So how was your Valentine's Day weekend? I'm still in recovery.

I happily spent mine with some of my girlfriends and we partied into the night celebrating singledom and friendships strengthened by bad movies (#50shades), burlesque, cute outfits, loud music, and hilarious uber rides.

On my nails for my fab weekend?

Cosmo from Zoya's "Magical" Pixie Dust line which was their upping the amp on their previous Pixie Dust collections. The texture is not my favorite, the original Pixie Dust texture is in my opinion the best glitter texture out there and anything messing with that is superfluous. Application is literally rough, and getting even coverage and an even line is awkward.

 
I will say this, however: I got this from the New Year New Hue sale specifically for occasions like Valentine's Day weekends where I'd need a bit of extra sparkle glam on the tips. Which it does deliver! Packed with silver glitter of all sizes and a sprinkling of holo hex glitters, it's a stunner on the nail.

Dhara (Zoya)

More from my New Year New Hue package. This is Dhara a gorgeous bright orange from their Fall 2013 PixieDust (have we really had PixieDust that long?) line. An odd one for fall, as I was sure that I'd be typing up that it was from the summer collection. Super bright, very vibrant two coat goodness. Apologies for the bottle, unfortunately, Solange broke en route and spilled in the box :'(. They really need to wrap these better. 

Dhara's pretty enough to distract me from my loss, and honestly I'm glad that it was the yellow and not the orange that met its demise. It's a stunner. I kept the ring finger out of focus in these shots just to show off the sparkle power.

Indie Love: The Woman Who Walked The Earth (A Study In Polish)

This is the beautiful The Woman Who Walked The Earth (A Study In Polish) from their Doctor Who inspired collection. I chose this out of the others because, well, Martha Jones is everything! She saved the world, and was strong enough to walk away from The Doctor before she was irreparably damaged. Add to that, she came back and fought the good fight on her own terms.

Enough about my Martha Jones stan situation, on to the polish she inspired. The Woman Who Walked The Earth is comprised of a purple base mixed in with holo round and hex glitter. It's a jelly so it's sheer, but three coats did the trick for the most part.The glitter applied with relative evenness and I didn't have any major issues with this loveliness.

A Study In Polish is available on Etsy.

Zoya Mystery Trio! - Anais, Severine, & Charlotte - Peter Som A/W 2014

It took nearly a month, but my Zoya Mystery Trio package finally arrived! These came with my three free polishes from their New Year New Hue promotion. This is a rather large promotion tactic and I expected some stunning shades, perhaps even new textures on the level of their amazing Pixie Dust line.

Alas it was not to be.

They're cute shades, but hardly living up to the anticipation, of a month no less! To make it worse, they are old shades, from the collection created for Peter Som A/W 2014. That and I suppose that as the collection wasn't put up for individual sale, this is one of the few chances to get it. Free polish is free polish, so here we go.

First up is Charlotte, a rather standard neutral beige creme. It's a bit cold for my nails, and I wish it had a bit more warmth to work as a neutral for me. It had a bit of a streaky application and required three coats to cover well. Looks like a good base for nail art for those of you interested.

A frost, oh man. Severine is a desaturated metallic gold. Application was pretty standard for a frost, runny but solid formula that covered in two coats. Still, a frost, but a lovely one! I actually would have liked to have this for the New Year's season.

Last but not least is Anais, my favorite of the collection. It's a black base with the gold shimmer found in Severine that lights it up and saves it from being a a standard black frost. Two coats leaves bald spots, so I suggest three to get it all nicely covered. It's beautiful.

Not bad for a free set, really.

Fast Track (China Glaze)

From ye old Capitol Colours collection, which spawned some amazeballs shades, this is Fast Track, meant as a complement to District 6 which was in charge of Transportation in the Hunger Games. It's a beautiful beige with gold flecks that light up what is a rather cold toned neutral, even for a beige. Coverage is sheer, and it took three coats to get coverage. Worth that extra coat though!

Will there ever be a CG collection as dynamic as the Capitol Colours group? Probably not, but I sure hope so.

China Glaze Road Trip for Spring 2015 Swatches: Part 2 - Pastels

Here are the pastels. See if the application was easier and the formula more stable, this would be one of my favorite China Glaze collections. As it is, with the exception of Boho Blues, the only creme in the batch, all these are rather troublesome.

PART 1 - THE BRIGHTS

First up, Boho Blues, the periwinkle darling of this bunch. Two coats standard creme, and great application for a lighter color. I love it.

 Dashboard Dreamer is a light blue pastel with very subtle pink shimmer. It's gorgeous, but as mentioned earlier rather troublesome to get on the nails. This is four coats.

 Urgh, would have been my favorite but I just had to stop fussing with it at four coats and still carrying bald spots. This lovely baby pink with gold shimmer is Pack Lightly.

Debating whether I should keep this one. Wanderlust is gorgeous but looks rather cold on my tips, probably due to the silver shimmer in it.