I know what you guys must be thinking – is she really posting a Valentine’s Day mani… in September. I know, I know, but I’m trying to catch up on my mani photo back log. Back in February I decided against posting this mani, mainly because everyone else’s Valentine’s Day manis were so elaborated and beautiful. Mine paled in comparison.

I’m a pretty big fan of the Maybelline heart polishes. Sadly, I’ve only been able to snag one bottle over the years because the displays are ALWAYS empty when I find them. My sole lonely heart polish is Clearly In Love and it’s comprised of medium grain silver glitter suspended in clear polish with silver holographic hearts. Some girls complain about the application of these polishes. They’re finicky because the hearts are big and heavy enough to make it fairly difficult to apply strategically using the brush. If you want a random pattern of hearts, like in my picture above, just use the brush. If you want your hearts strategically placed, try using the fine point of an orange wood stick to pick the hearts off the brush and position the hearts carefully on the nail. This mani used two coats of the Maybelline Clearly in Love.

The base color here is Essie Status Symbol, a mid-tone pink and a semi-jelly consistency, from the Spring 2009 Collection. Speaking of Essie – take a minute to take their survey. They’re trying to fine tune their customer service and you can get a promo code for a prize after completing the survey.

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Disclosure: Status Symbol was sent to me for review by Essie.

I’m ashamed to say this but I totally forgot about the first anniversary of this blog coming up. If it hadn’t been for my thoughtful friend and reader, Kyosuke, I would have forgotten completely – I’ve just been so swamped with life lately, I apologize.

In any case, I thought for this special post I would reflect a bit on what this blog means to me personally. I started The Polish Addict last year during the final examination period. I’m a notorious productive procrastinator (I procrastinate by doing everything other than the thing I’m supposed to be doing) and this site was just the newest project in a long line of things I invented to absorb my study time. I never expected that this site would become as popular as it has become but I am so glad that I endeavored to write it. This site has enriched my life, truly. I have made so many wonderful friends along the way. I thought the best way to celebrate this anniversary would be to show you guys a polish sent to me by one of the amazing people I had the pleasure of encountering through blogging. My friend and reader Magda sent me this polish all the way from Poland.

This picture just doesn’t do this color any justice at all. Vipera 558 is green micro glitter suspended in black transparent polish. The shimmer is extremely complex and gives the polish a stunning multi-dimensional depth. It flashes different shades of green and copper. Honestly, 558 is one of the most beautiful polishes I have ever seen. The application was flawless. I don’t know much about this brand. I haven’t encountered it in the United States so I’m assuming it’s only available in Central Europe.

Ji Baek has out done herself yet again. For the past few seasons, Rescue Beauty Lounge has consistently pushed the boundaries by releasing innovative unique collections that have well exceeded my expectations; Spring 2009 is no exception. I have just one word: GLITTER. Because glitter is typically (and erroneously) associated with a younger age group, Ji set out to create a glittery polish that is more accessible to ‘adults’. While I don’t really agree that glitter is age exclusive, I think she accomplished what she set out to do. These polishes are ultra bling, very glimmer-y, but at the same time wearable and not gaudy.

Also, I really appreciate companies that step outside of their image. I associate RBL with chic edgy cremes. I never, ever, ever expected to see a set of chunky glitters donning the Rescue Beauty name. Ji took a risk, an awesomely blingy gorgeous risk, and I, for one, am very pleased.

These polishes consist of very dense multi-sized, multi-shaped brilliant glitter suspended in clear polish. You’ll see extremely tiny flecks of glitter (which help to build opacity and provide depth to bling) along with regular-sized glitter, both round and square shaped. I think these polishes are too dense to be used as a glitter top coat unless a thick coat of glitter is the look you’re trying to achieve.

All these swatches are 3 coats of polish and 2 coats of top coat.

Locavore is gold, teal, and amethyst glitter. The main complaint about these  is that the glitter is too chunky, causing a rough finish. It’s definitely not smooth, but I found that one coat of regular topcoat, topped with one coat of Seche Vite gets rid of the bumpiness satisfactorily.

The light refraction from the glitter created so much bling that my camera had a hard time focusing. Here’s an indirect shot that’s more true to color.

*drool* This is a super close up shot. Absolutely gorgeous.

Frugalista is composed of silver and amethyst glitter. I wore this one as a manicure. It’s sort of like an optical illusion, the shades of the glitter combine to create a platinum flash. This one is definitely a show stopper.

Here’s an indirect side view for more accuracy.

And again, a close up shot. I usually don’t do ultra close ups but I’m trying to display the different sizes and shapes of the glitter.

And finally Look Rich, Be Cheap is gold and purple glitter (slightly deeper than the amethyst shade found in the other two polishes.) Lovacore and Look Rich, Be Cheap really remind me Mardi Gras.

Speaking of which, as a Florida Gator, if I had any kind of school spirit what-so-ever, I would not love this polish as much as I do because gold and purple are LSU colors. haha.

Close up shot for full bling appreciation.

In my humble opinion, this was a really successful foray into the world of bling. I really hope it’s not a one time thing for Ji.

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Disclosure: This collection was sent to me for review by Rescue Beauty Lounge.

Starry Starry Nights is another hard-to-find polish that has found its way into my heart and onto this list. I really can’t say much more about it other than it’s unspeakably stunning. I really wish Essie would kick back to the old days and create some new colors as gorgeous as the coveted SSN.

Here’s an excerpt from my original post about Essie Starry Starry Nights.

“Now that I can finally wear ‘out of the ordinary’ colors again, I went hunting in my ‘untried’ box and rediscovered Starry Starry Nights. “Wow” is all I can say. Dark blue jelly with small silver glitter makes for an amazing polish. I can definitely see what all the hype was about.

The jelly-ness gives the glitter at different coats varying degrees of visibility, which really makes this polish look the way the sky does in places where there are no lights to drown out the shining light of the stars. One of the girls on MUA said that my nails looked like they came straight out of the Van Gogh paining. Love the reference, and so very true.”

If you follow my blog, you know how important today is to me. So, in good polish addict form, I had to choose a color that reflected my feelings about this historic day. Darren Garnick recent asked me if I was doing anything special with my nails for the inauguration. My initial reaction was, hell yes. I wanted to do something ridiculously flashy, like yellow, to represent my happiness and my hope for a brighter future. Instead, I decided to go something flashy, yet subtle. I figured OPI Designer Series Coronation (the name is fitting in a silly way) would be the perfect color.

Coronation was recently released with the new Designer Series colors (all of which you can see on Scrangie’s blog). I was pretty surprised to find that Coronation applies like a glitter top coat. Essentially, this polish is extremely dense multi-sized holographic glitter suspended in clear polish. With just one coat you get an effect similar to other dense glitter top coats. I put it over Zoya Trixie, it looked nothing short of amazing.

The holographic effect isn’t the uniform oil slick effect found in previous Designer Series colors. Instead, it’s like an amalgamation of multi-sized glitter each flashing brilliantly and individually. The shape of the glitter is irregular, each one like flecks or erratically cut chucks. I see as many as 3 different sized pieces of glitter. When applied with multiple coats (3 is what I did for the picture above) the very small pieces of glitter come together to build opacity. The image to the left was taken with flash and shows Coronation’s holographic glimmer. In the sunlight you get a slightly more uniform holographic reflection but it’s not high intensity, meaning the holo isn’t as colorized or rainbow-y as other holographic polishes.

OPI Up Front & Personal is a glitzy sheer light gold toned multi-colored micro-glitter that flashes green and pink. This color is a tough one to pull off. It looks gorgeous in the picture but it was less flattering in person, although, I wouldn’t say that I didn’t like it on myself. I think it would probably work wonderfully as a layering polish. This swatch is 1 coat of OPI Start to Finish base coat, 4 coats of color, 1 coat Seche Vite.