My Nail Polish Picks of 2013

 In retrospect, I feel like 2013 has been the oddest year for folks. I just can't imagine going through one like this again; not that it was particularly bad or particularly good, it's just that when it was good it was amazing (getting into grad school) and when it was bad it was unbearable (multiple deaths in my family within weeks of each other). I'll admit to using nail polish to try and escape out of my funk or to celebrate an event quite a bit this year.

The nail polish trends have been hella odd as well. From all-over-bar/feather glitter (urghh) to texture polishes (yay!) it's been an inconsistent year for most brands in my opinion. Unlike last year where I couldn't wait to try most collections, I spent most of this one shaking my head or just plain bored, with a few exceptional exceptions, which pretty much meant I spent a lot of time browsing collection archives for gems I'd missed.

So here they are, my twelve faves of 2013:

Envy (Hard Candy) - A surprise find from a blast from the past brand. I have been looking for a blackened green shimmer that sung to me and I found it in this loveliness right here. The Slytherin in me was pleased :)

Bold Gold (Sally Hansen) - A twist on the black and white glitter combo, a black and gold combination perfectly timed for the holidays.

Chita (Zoya) -  Zoya took the textured polish trend and blew everyone else out of the water. This lovely green is a prime example why.

Lagoon (piCture pOlish) - I saw swatches of these absolutely everywhere and I didn't believe that it would look as good as the pictures till I swatched it myself. This polish delivers on every promise it makes.

Black Magic (SinfulColors) - It's weird. I like it. I like it a lot.

Cream Pink (SinfulColors) - I've walked past this beauty so many times, no idea why. Beautiful pink with low key gold shimmer. Yummy shade.

Purple Poodle (Orly) - This one was weird too, but in a really pretty. A fuchsia base with blue flakies, sign me up!

Just Keep Swimming (Dollish Polish) - How could I resist a Dory reference, and a perfect one interpretation at that?

Into The Blue (SinfulColors) - Blue creme of my polishaholic dreams!

The Fifth Element (Emily de Molly) - I'm smiling extra hard because I'm in the middle of watching this very movie as I type up this post. An awesome blue polish with surprising large orange glitter mixed in. One of my best indie polish experiences.

Rise & Shine (SinfulColors) - I think this may be a dupe for Turned Up Turquoise (China Glaze) and I should really check that out but it still makes the list if only because I lost my bottle of  TUT (CG).

Atlantis (China Glaze) - An oldie but a goodie; I fell so deeply in love with the glitter combo here that I bought a second bottle as back up a day after I bought the first. It's that wonderful. I love that it looks serene and exciting all at once!


Whew!

All done, have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
May the polish gods smile upon us with even more exciting results for 2014 :D