Many girls steer clear of Essie’s soft colors. I, however, compulsively buy them. I just can’t stop myself. The result is a drawer full of off white, taupe, nude, and a soft pink Essies that I only occasionally dig out for use. I’m always pleasantly surprised by how much I like these colors on myself. Essie Pound Cake doesn’t look like much in the bottle but it’s very chic on the nail. It’s a beige creme with a slight tinge of smokey muted pink. I would refer to it as a borderline mushroom-y color. The application wasn’t amazing, but not horrible. This mani is 1 coat Essie First Base base coat, 4 coats of color, and 1 coat seche vite. I really loved it.

Completely unrelated to this great color, I’m taking a small pseudo-hiatus until mid January. I’m sure many of you have noticed that I’ve been doing a lot of one-polish posts lately. I’ve been working on a few polish related side projects that, along with my internship, have taken up all my free time. I’m going to keep posting more or less in the same manner that I have been, i.e. NOTD posts, the Top 20, etc. but I won’t be able to cover large collections for a little while. I have a tone of collections to cover for you guys once things quiet down a bit, so I hope you’ll stick with me through this period of meagerly posting. I also want to apologize a head of time, many of the NOTDs for the next few weeks are going to be professional colors again. In any case, everything will go back to normal shortly.

It’s pretty rare to find a color that looks so abhorrent on me that I can’t manage to wear it for a full 24 hours. Usually, if I do encounter one, it’s shimmery. I think this might actually be the very first time in the history of my obsession with nail polish that I’ve encountered an unwearable creme, OPI Pink of Hearts 2. Let me quantify that statement, I don’t think this color is inherently unattractive. I think if my skintone were lighter, if my nails were less yellow-stained, and if they were shorter so as to not reveal as much VPL, this color would look okay, maybe  even very good. However, the condition my nails are in right now is just not conducive to successfully rocking this color.

With all that said, even though I’m 2 months late with this post, purchasing this color is for a good, deserving cause. OPI donates $25,000 every year to Susan G. Komen for The Cure. I don’t believe the donation is tied to the purchase of the polish but I still think it’s an excellent way to show support for the search for a cure to breast cancer. Last year’s Pink of Hearts was gorgeous so I have high hopes for next year’s installment, assuming OPI continues to relaunch variations of Pink of Hearts for breast cancer month. This mani was 1 coat OPI Start to Finish base coat, 4 coats of Pink of Hearts (it’s very very sheer, but not streaky), and 1 coat of Seche Vite.

So, let me take a second to shamelessly plug some Zoya products. I am really, really, bad at buying gifts so I enjoy prepackaged gift sets like no other. I figured I would share some of Zoya’s pre-packaged gift sets for my gift adverse readers out there.

Zoya has a slew of these little mini polish and lip gloss box sets, adorable. These feature Zoya’s best selling polishes and a matching lip color. These little sets are perfect as stocking stuffers or as small gifts for the polish addict in your life (haha). Clockwise: The Enchanted Evening Set – Zoya Evageline & Hot Lips Starlet, The Sugar Plum Party Set – Zoya Casey & Hot Lips Visa, The Red-E To Go Set – Zoya Dianna & Hot Lips Disguise, The Opposites Attract Set Zoya Raven & Hot Lips Sparkle.

Next up, Zoya’s manicure sets. On the left we have the Qtica set. It comes with a large bottle of Qtica Natural Nail Growth Stimulator, Qtica cuticle repair balm (which I love), and mini bottles of Qtica Extending Top Coat and Qtica Half Time Polish Drying Accelerator. On the right we have the Zoya Treatment Cube which includes minis of Zoya Armor, Zoya Anchor, and Zoya Hurry Up.  The Zoya Treatment Set retails for $12, so I really recommend it for anyone who wanted to try these but didn’t want to shell out a lot of money without knowing for sure that it would be worth it (which it is).

I’ll share these sets even though they are outside the normal realm my expertise. These are great if you need to buy gifts and also need an excuse to place a Zoya order. The Gift Spa set on the left comes with Grapefruit Surprise Sugar Scrub, Grapefruit Surprise Luxury Lotion, Grapefuit Surpise Shower Gel and little set of shower gloves. The Gift Spa set on the left includes Lemon Dream Sugar Scrub, Lemon Dream Luxury Lotion, Lemon Dream Shower Gel, as well as a little set of shower gloves. Both of these sets smell delicious. My Mother *loved* them.

Finally, Qtica Hands & Feet Set and Qtica Feet Set. On the left is the Hand & Feet set which includes Qtica Foot Repair Balm and Qtica Hand Repair Balm. On the right is the Qtica Feet Set which includes Qtica Foot Repair Balm and Qtica Foot Scrub. I’m a pretty big fan of Qtica’s moisturizers, these are no exception.

These sets are all available under the holiday set section of the Zoya and Qtica areas of the Art of Beauty website, respectively.

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Disclosure: These were sent to me for review by Zoya.

Now, I know what you all are thinking, “Why is stopping the countdown!!??” Well… I reached a color that I haven’t photographed yet but also I wanted to share a recent discovery.

Behold:

There is no need to adjust your monitor. This is actually a frosty with NO visible brush strokes. I know, it’s shocking. I didn’t think I would ever find one in my life time and yet here it is in all its non-brush stroke-y glory. The one downside, at least for me, is that this very flattering light muted minty green is less metallic than other frosties. Still though, this color is very unique, very pretty. This mani 1 coat base coat,  3 coats color, 1 coat Seche.

(Adorée is available from Esther’s Nail Center in the U.S. and Pro Nail Store in Europe, specifically Sweden.)

I’m following the unloved OPI The “It” Color with the ridiculously loved China Glaze Ruby Pumps. I actually surprised myself by deciding to put this on the list. I resisted buying this color for eons. Everyone constantly raved about it and I just didn’t see what the big deal was all about. I hate to say this, but I even had a little bit of disdain for this color because it was so popular. China Glaze Ruby Pumps is like the Da Vinci Code of the nail polish world. It’s the same reason I don’t own OPI I’m Not Really A Waitress. In any case, I did not fully understand or appreciate how disgustingly gorgeous this color is until I purchased a bottle. I got it inadvertently because I really wanted China Glaze Emerald Sparkle and Ruby Pumps came in the set. I found that pictures simply don’t do it justice which is part of the reason why I wasn’t able to understand all the raves.

Ruby Pumps is stunning, plain and simple. The bright red glitter under the jelly red base has a complexity that just does not translate well into photographs. If you’ve been fighting the Ruby Pumps lemming like I once did, stop it. Get a bottle right now. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

I drool all over myself when I find a truly unique color. It’s a pretty rare occurrence, but every once in a while it happens. I know many of you will be surprised to see this color on the list. It wasn’t popular with the masses, probably because it’s very ‘out there’ but that’s why I love it.

This truly gorgeous dirty mustard yellow reminds me of run ways and high fashion. In a perfect world, colors like this would be staples for everyone. Until then, I’ll keep drooling for these rarities.

As a meaningless side note, I tend to associate certain polishes with whatever was going on in my life the day I wore it. I wore The “It” Color while studying for finals last spring, specifically I was studying Criminal Procedure Police Practices. I remember constantly staring down at my nails which significantly hampered my study efforts. You can read the original post on this color here.