American Apparel - Hunter with Color Club - Holiday Splendor

Merry Christmas !!

Essie - Good as Gold with Gold Glitter Gradient

Color Club - Candy Cane

This color was part of the Beyond the Mistletoe Collection, an awesome set of uber glittery polishes. Candy Cane is predominantly a pink glitter with some blue, silver, and purple mixed in. It's super shiny and very pretty.

OPI I Lily Love You over Black

Hello! It's been about 7 months, so I figured it's about time to start this up again. I also got a fancy new camera, inspiring fancy new photos that I want to share. First up is OPI I Lily Love You over black.

I Lily Love you is holographic and iridescent glitter and fun odd shaped flecks in a very sheer light pink base. It's a great polish for layering with. I like it best over dark colors as the contrast really makes the glitter pop.

OPI - Bring on the Bling

Every now and then I need a little bling in my life, and this OPI never fails to deliver. It is pure glitter in a clear base, needing about 2 thick coats for complete coverage. The glitter is mostly gold with some pink, orange, green, and silver thrown in for some extra pizzazz. As Rebecca Black would say, fun, fun, fun!

Initially I had huge issues with this polish completely falling off my nail. Not flaking, actually falling off in one big sheet leaving me looking like the crazy lady who forgot to polish her pinky. I finally worked around this by applying one coat of Bring on the Bling over a grey polish, as pictured below. I'm sure you can layer this over almost any neutral color for the same effect. This is an old photo, next time I wear this polish I will give it the photo spam it deserves.

Wet and Wild - Night Prowl

Bad photo, great polish. Night Prowl is a very deep eggplant purple loaded with fuchsia glitter. Even though it's dark, it rarely comes across as black. For 99 cents this is pretty much a must have for anyone who likes vampy colors. It did chip a lot after 48 hours (as you can see in my photo), but once again a proper base coat would probably help out with that. Definitely needs a nice top coat to even out the finish. 

Not really the greatest photo, but it shows the color in artificial light pretty accurately. Sorry I wasn't able to photograph this in the sun, maybe next time! 

Color Club - Wild and Willing

I'm going to rant about my nails for sec. I usually file my nails while I have polish on cause it's a lot easier to keep them even that way. I decided to break my rule, assuring myself I'd reached a skill level where I can keep things even without being deceived by the white tips of my nails (which start at a different point in each nail and is therefore useless when it comes to this). I was very wrong, and now my nails are super short and uneven. I also need a serious manicure as my cuticles are in piss poor shape. So yeah that's that, on to better things!

Wild and Willing, a fantastic glitter/metallic/duochrome made up of yellow/orange gold glitter that flashes pink in certain light (awesome!) The glitter is in a clear base and it goes on pretty sheer. I used 4 coats, although you can probably get away with 3. This color changes a lot depending on the lighting, the finish looks metallic in the shade and really sparkly in any sort of light. I'll admit, I wasn't really used to this kind of color at first, but now I am totally in love. Cannot wait to wear this once i'm tan. Now for photo spam!

Milani Liquid Metal for Summer (?)

Polish friends, I did something today that is probably a huge no no. I tried on polish in a drugstore (without buying). You see, I am currently starting week 2 of a 2 month no buy and I could not stay away from these colors. I mean, I had to make sure they were not worth purchasing, ya know?

The display that inspired my devious behavior was Milani's new Liquid Metal for Summer Collection. I might be making that name up. My mind was too distracted by metallic micro glitter to get a proper photo of the display, and the name of this collection is completely cut off. I think I remember seeing Liquid Metal so I'm just going to go with that.

Here are my quick and messy skittle swatches. 

Pinky: Metal Gear (one coat) - a yellow/gold metallic. 

Ring: Melt Down (one coat, probably not color accurate) - red metallic 

Middle: Molten Rock - shimmery metallic teal

Index: Hot Metal - pink/purple jelly with pink and blue microglitter. This one is way more pink in person, but the microglitter gives it that bluish purple flash you see in the photo. 

Ok people. I inherited a very stumpy thumb from my father. I really wanted to keep it off the internet, but I used it to swatch an awesome color so I have no choice but to feature it in this next photo. I'm sorry. This is Melt With You - orange metallic with gold microglitter. This one only one coat, I'm sure it's better with two. I don't really own anything like it so I might have to go back and purchase. 

Molten Rock instantly reminded me of Zoya Charla. It's definitely in the same family, but the glitter is a lot finer so the finish is smooth and less glitzy. Charla also has a green duochrome effect. I really like them both, though part of me leans towards Molten Rock cause Charla is almost *too* sparkly for my fingers. They are different enough where owning both is extremely justifiable. Here is a quick side by side: 

OPI - DS Extravagance

OPI charges a premium for their DS line because of the "diamond dust" formula; this polish actually does look like there are crushed diamonds inside. I like it because even in low light all that hidden sparkle gives off an interesting textured look. Of course when the sun hits it, it is superb.

The formula is pretty great. This is two coats plus layer of Seche Vite. Unlike some sparkly polishes, this one is super easy to remove - anyone who has spent a substantial amount of time scrubbing glitter off their nails can appreciate that!

Direct sunlight: 

Indirect natural light:

Artificial light: 

Mixed light: 

Zoya - Charla

Oh Charla Charla Charla. I want to love you. I think I might love you. But I'm not sure if I'm in love with you on my fingers (yet). I've been wearing a series of purple/pink tones (which tend to look the best on me), so this mermaid manicure was a lil shocking to my eyes.

Don't get me wrong, this color is beyond gorgeous. It's a bright aqua base loaded with blue/green *metallic* glitter. I don't think any swatch online can truly capture how bright, saturated, and shiny this polish really is. Also, it's metallic! I didn't really realize that when I purchased, even though it's clearly stated in the product description. It's fabulous on my toes. Still getting used to it on my nails.

Pure Ice - Super Star

A cranberry polish filled with tons of micro/holo glitter. Looks reaaaaaally pretty in the bottle and slightly less pretty on your nails. The formula is what you would expect from a $2 wal-mart purchase. Uneven and dries pretty bumpy (you definitely need a thick top coat). This was three coats, probably could have used a fourth to even it out a bit. 

Indirect sunlight, you can see how rough the finish is. 

This photo captures the color a little better, but it's not this smooth in real life.