The Lace Is On (Essie)

This gorgeous shimmer is The Lace Is On (Essie) from their For the Twill of It collection. It's a magenta leaning purple with subtle flecks shining through when the light catches it at the right angle. Application was great and it was radiant and opaque at two easy coats :)

For The Twill Of It (Essie)

If you want to spice up your neutrals, try this one. For the Twill of It (Essie) is a gorgeous multichrome that shifts from a metallic dark grey grey, to green, to purple. Application is great, with two coats for opacity. For all its excitement it's not at all intrusively multi-chromatic and will be great for fall.

Twin Sweater Set (Essie)

Here's a classic color. Sometimes it's nice to go back to lovely classic red. This is a crelly from Essie's For The Twill of It fall 2013 collection called Twin Sweater Set. It's a bit of an odd name, despite its fit with the collection, I think of pale pastels when I think of sweater sets. In any case, I like it. After two coats I still had VNL but it's not so noticeable and application was great and I can't complain.

21. Belugaria (Essie) from Essie's Encrusted Treasures Winter 2013 - A Polish Was Hated But Is Now Loved

Now this one's an odd blast from the past!

How do I even begin to describe this?

Named after Beluga caviar (and I shall happily remain ignorant in my sampling of this particular dish), Belugaria (Essie) is very rough textured polish composed of black granular glitter and large holo hex glitter in a black base. Pictured above is two coats, I could have used three. I am completely on the fence about this polish. It's so ugly it's gone right around to intriguing and I still can't bring myself to rid myself of it (and keep in mind this is from Essie's Encrusted Treasures collection for winter hols in 2013!).

What do you think?
What are some of your favorite so ugly it's cool polishes?

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Polish that:

was hated but is now loved


reminds me of a special day
is sexy
is a pastel
is hard to apply
i can't pull off
would be worn to a wedding
is blue
is new
is from a favorite brand

has a name that describes me
is a glitter

is easy to apply

is vampy

was coveted
is from my favorite collection

has never been worn

is boring

is inexpensive

makes me happy

is my favorite
is my least favorite 
is "so me"
is worn often
was gifted to me
is from a least favorite brand

was loved but is now hated
is overrated

hasn't been worn in some time
matches my favorite outfit

Jamaica Me Crazy (Essie)

For this Wednesday's pink, I have Jamaica Me Crazy which is a pretty magenta shimmer from Essie's Holiday 2011 collection released around the winter holidays. It's filled with blue and pink shimmer which is what makes this such a lovely polish for me despite my general reluctance to wear this kind of color. Not too much to say, except it went on about average though it did take longer to dry than I would have liked.

Absolutely Shore (Essie)

Absolutely Shore (Essie)
Price: $4.50
MSRP: $8.00

This is a gorgeous dusty pastel that Essie describes as a "soft sea foam green". Application was average for a creme and required two to three coats depending on the amount I let on the brush. This is definitely one you let dry between coats to avoid the worst of problems.

I don't think the pictures do it justice- it's just a hint greener but still enough that it looks like it could shift to a grey blue pastel with a bit of coaxing. I like that it's a bit unique in the slew of pastel greens, it's very grey (not white oddly enough), just so that it's eye catching. I got a lot of compliments on it when I wore it, mostly people trying to figure out if it was grey, blue, or green.

Foundations: First Base (Essie) & Out The Door (INM)

First Base (Essie)
Price: $6.50 (ebay)
MSRP: $8.00

First time buying a base coat!


I'd always thought that I didn't need them, especially since I never kept my color on for too long before I changed it so I never saw any deterioration of a particular polish. I'm going to try it now just to see what it does for strengthening my nails and reducing the staining that might happen from a dark color. I chose Essie since I figured that this could be one I could splurge a little on (just one coat an application!) and hope for quality.

It applies incredibly smooth and dries pretty damn quick. I've found that polish is easier to apply when I use First Base and even the color looks better sometimes (especially the metallics).

And for the top coat:

Out The Door (INM)
Price: $4.99
MSRP: $5.49

So far so good.

It's not goopy like other top coats I've tried and its brush works great with it. It's easy to apply and unless you don't have any amount on the brush, there's no damage to your other coats and that's the second best thing about this top coat.

The best thing is that it does actually dry pretty fast. Obviously, if you ding your nail polish hard against something without give, it'll be damaged but if you're looking to avoid the basics, like when you brush against clothes, this should do the trick.

Also, cheaper than Seche Vite; third best thing.