In any case, back to the post, I got an email recently from a newly minted nail polish collector who was interested in layering techniques. I don’t layer often because my nail polish OCD compels me to wear a color in its unaltered form the first time I wear it. But when I do layer, I love it. And some colors scream “layer me!” despite my obsessive tendencies.

Hits Moonbow, from the Phenomena collection, is precisely that type of color. This polish is ridiculous. Just ridiculous. It’s a color-shifting multichrone glitter suspended in a cloudy base.  The glitter shifts from green and fuchsia to purple and occasionally it flashes gold. When I first saw photos of this color I was instantly obsessed, I had to have it, stat! However, from the swatches I saw, it didn’t look like a glitter polish, it looked like… well… magic. So I was a little disappointed when I received it and discovered that while it was still quite magical, it didn’t really look the way it looked online. (This is the second time this has happened recently *makes Mikayla is not impressed face*). My next hope was that it would be a buildable glitter, meaning the whole surface of the nail would be completely covered within a few coats. It is buildable, sort of. The glitter will cover the surface of your nail but it takes about 4 coats. That would be fine, except that, for whatever reason, the glitter does not coat the tip of the nail very well. The end result looks a bit like tip pull. You can definitely see what I’m talking about in the photo above – needless to say, it’s not very flattering.

Because of that issue, I don’t recommend wearing this color on its own. It is gorgeous for sure and it definitely has a crash-inducing-stare-at-my-nails-while-driving quality to it but it looks infinitely better layered over another color.

Case in point, Hits Moonbow over oldschool Essie Grape Crush. Looks much better, right? Grape Crush, a sheer purple glaze, is from an older Essie collection that consisted of all sheer glazes (as opposed to more modern jellies). For reference and comparison Essie Cherry Pop, which is still widely available, is from the same collection and has the same look and consistency. The beloved Essie Night Cap is also from that collection. I somehow neglected to photograph Grape Crush on its own – bad nail blogger, bad. I’ll make that up to you, I do plan to post the whole collection soon. I’m only missing one more polish, Essie Apricot Fizz, to complete the set of 6 from the original collection! In any case, this NOTD is 3 coats of GC and 3 coats of Moonbow. I know, I know that’s too many coats. But I liked the end result and I didn’t have any drying issues after a coat of Seche.

Hits is a new brand to me. I’m a little biased because it hails from the mother country, Brazil. The Phenomena collection is my first experience with this brand and I was pretty wowed by it even though it wasn’t what I expected. There are a few more Hits polishes on my lemming list, including pretty much ALL OF THE HOLOS. My one gripe is that the bottle is pretty small so you end up with that noticeable, and uber distressing, dip in the bottle after just one mani. It gave me some serious angst, another aspect of my nail polish OCD, so I do plan to get a back up bottle.  These bad boys retail for approximately $6.50 to $7.00.

When I was on the hunt for Moonbow and company, all the e-tailers had it listed as out of stock. That day, I placed orders with both Llarowe and Ninja Polish for several other colors. I included a note in the comments section of my order for both e-tailers that I really needed this color and asked that if they happened to have a bottle laying around in the stock room to please add it to my order and charge me for it. Ninja Polish did just that (excellent customer service on their part), meanwhile Llarowe very kindly included a bottle of it in my order without charging me. Even though I do want a back up bottle of this color and I was very grateful, I felt badly because I like to support small nail polish related businesses whenever I can. I figured that the best way to repay that kindness was to gift the bottle that I bought to another blogger and keep the gifted bottle. I did that in hopes of spreading the awesome around because more swatches = a better world, right? In any case, I don’t say this often but I highly recommend both e-tailers. They are both great so you can’t go wrong with either one. 

 Thoughts on Hits or Moonbow? What about nail polish OCD? Do you have it? If yes, how does it manifest for you?

Rescue Beauty Lounge Thank You is a very light, muted nude toned pink with very subtle fuchsia shimmer. The shimmer creates a somewhat frosty effect. This color is very delicate with a hint of glimmer, perfect for conservative work places. The application, like some of the other colors in this collection was a bit on the thick side. This swatch is 3 coats.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Become One is a leafy yellow toned green creme. It is my absolute favorite color from this collection. This color fills me with feelings of happiness and nostalgia. It reminds me of childhood, of beautiful colorful leaves, of crayons, of Luigi! This photo is a little bit inaccurate, it’s a little more yellow-toned in real life. The application was good, very smooth but it did get thicker with each coat. It’s definitely a stainer though, so double-up on base-coat.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Pause is a very pigmented, vibrant mid-toned violet with subtle purple and blue shimmer. I feel like I can’t fully appreciate this color because of my purple-hatred. As far as application, like the others, it is also a bit thick. This is 3 coats.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Smile is a gorgeous, vivid mango pink with subtle fine gold shimmer. This one was not thick like the others and applied very well. This is 3 coats. I want to say I’m usually not moved by colors like this but who am I kidding? I’m such a sucker for these red/pink/coral/orange chameleons even though I hardly ever wear them.

 Bah. I’ve been going through an abnormally excessive amount of stress lately. So much so that I’ve been getting physically sick as a result. In an effort to take the edge off, I’ve taken up a few new hobbies. While I love nail polish collecting, it isn’t as relaxing as it used to be… probably because I still feel like I’m catching up. I’ve been trying out vegetable gardening for the first time, quite successfully might I add. *toot my own horn* I’m really enjoying it so far because it’s something that I get to do with DH and it’s just about the coolest thing ever to watch plants grow. Not to be a total cheese-ball but it’s pretty fulfilling. I’ve also taken up an old hobby, compulsively checking out and hoarding library books (obvi with good intentions of actually reading them) haha. I’m also trying to do my nails with more frequency. In the long, long ago when I had all the time in the world, I did my nails every day. Every. Day. Crazy, I know. Now I’m lucky if I get to do them more than twice a week. Although I do love my new unwinding techniques, nothing beats a shiny, glossy new mani in a great color.

Do you guys have any hobbies other than nail polish? How do you relax and unwind?

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

The Emoting Me Collection is the newest installation in the Rescue Beauty Lounge library of colors. The theme here is self-awareness, introspection, self-appreciation, and reflection – this meaningful message appeals to me, especially right now. I’m hard on myself and when things get rough, be it at work or at home, I have a tendency to engage in a lot of wallowing as a result. Wearing these colors has been a small reminder to take it easy (and if ever there were a week for that type of reminder, this was it).

Color-wise, this collection is a well-balanced mixture of moody work appropriate colors and bright, exciting colors. My one gripe is that there are only two true cremes. Granted, the two are really great, but it’s only two none-the-less. You guys know me, I’m a creme girl. With that said though, I really do love these colors so I’ve been actually wearing them instead of just swatching which is why I’m only showing you half of the collection in this post. Tonight’s mani will be either Become One or Thank You – I haven’t been able to decide yet.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Be Humble is tough to describe. It’s a mushroomy, light grey putty with a purple/pink undertone and with subtle blue and violet shimmer. The shimmer ends up being nearly invisible – the over-all effect is sort of a snowy “interference” on the surface of the nail that gives the color depth. This is a chic, professional color. Definitely, me gusta. Be Humble dries slightly darker on the nail than it looks in the bottle color. The application was good but a smidge on the thick side. This mani was 3 coats.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Forgiveness is a greyed-out, dusty lilac creme. Moody… work appropriate… right up my alley. If you have trouble wearing lilacs like I do – this might be a good color to pick up. It didn’t wash me out and was not just wearable (usually the best I can hope for with shades like this), but actually affirmatively flattering. This NOTD was 3 coats, like Be Humble – a little thick but not terrible.

And, finally, Rescue Beauty Lounge Turn It Around a dark olive green speckled with course copper shimmer. I think my Husband summed it up best, ”Whoa… that’s a cool color.” Yea, I completely agree. I don’t own Rescue Beauty Lounge Halcyon (waaaaaaaah) but I imagine that Turn It Around is a distant cousin. The application was good but a little thicker than the others – probably as a result of copper specks. This is 4 coats – but it would have been good at 3.

What do you think of the Emoting Me Collection? Hoping to pick up any?

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Disclaimer: This collection was sent to me for review by Rescue Beauty Lounge. (Sorry! I forgot to include the disclaimer when I first posted this!)

I’m so bummed and so, so sorry about this. I have so many new collections to show you. So many pretty photos. T_T

I’m planning to re-install WordPress, etc., but if you have any other suggestions – please let me know!! And thank you for sticking with me!

<3

A England Dragon *deep breath*  a sage green holo. The holo in these polishes is pretty subtle, definitely not blingtastic at all. In my opinion, the holo is neither linear nor scattered – a better description would be “ambient,” like a shimmery interference. Application was good but the formula was a smidge on the thick side, perfect at two coats but I did three. Dragon is my favorite of the three polishes featured in this post because this shade of green was very flattering to my skin-tone.

A England Saint George is a teal leaning dark green holo. *swoon* Like Dragon, the holo is fine grained. This was my New Year’s Eve NOTD! Application was comparable to Dragon – this is three coats, but it would have been fine at two. It’s a bit of a stainer, so beware of sloppy application. Please excuse my gross flairy ring-finger nail. This photo was taken when I was struggling with peelies a few months back. My nails tend to flair like that when they’re weak. Taking biotin and switching back to my old holy grail base-coat that was unfortunately discontinued before its time, Sally Hansen Nail Quencher, really helped with the terrible peeling. My failed attempts to find a new go-to base-coat will be the topic of many anguished posts to come.

Last but not least, A England Lady of the Lake, a dark grape ambient holo. This shade is consistent with Dragon and Saint George in terms of look and application. This is my current NOTD. As you can see I had to nubbinize so I used that as an excuse to holo-it-up - looooooove it. Generally, I have a love\hate relationship with purples. I feel like purple is so over done: the “red” of “wacky” colors, if that makes sense. But, like with red, I’m a hater until I actually wear a purple polish, then I remember why everyone loves the color so much. It’s just gorgeous. Not to keep making excuses for my sub-par nail situation but please also excuse this photo. Since the past few weeks were so rough, I fell off the wagon in terms of keeping up with my moisture regime - these cuticles are the sad, sad result. womp womp.

This was my first foray into A England and I’m hooked. A England is the brain child of Adina, an evil nail polish genius. (You can follow her on twitter @aenglandtweets). I feel like if we knew each other in real life we’d be total besties… a love for nail polish, legends & myths, a gothic aesthetic, and a touch of anglophilia … um, sign me up for that life long friendship. A England is an indie brand and hails from the United Kingdom. [edited - thank you Chia & Aglaya for catching that for me] Although A England used to ship to the U.S. they are no longer able to ship internationally. However, you can get them from U.S. retailers like Ninja Polish and Llarowe for $10. You can get additional information about where to buy A England here.

Have you tried A England? What do you think?

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Disclosure: These were sent to me for review by A England.

(Photo Credit: Society Bride)

At the time, I didn’t realize that this was a real color – I figured it was some frankened combo made by some genius nail tech especially for this runway shoot. A few months after my wedding a friend from the nail community alerted me to Larimar, a color being sold on Oscar de la Renta’s website for $22. My eyes popped out of my head – there it was… the color I was looking for… that truly beautiful ethereal, seemingly surreal blue from the runway show!! I died a little and after my resurrection I forked over the 22 bucks to snag myself a bottle.

Oscar de la Renta Larimar is the truest light blue creme I have ever seen. My photo is a little inaccurate, it’s a smidge lighter in real life. All the light blues in my collection, for example China Glaze Moody Blue and Rescue Beauty Lounge Bikini Bottom, seem to lean green in comparison. I really love the color but the polish was a bit of a disappointment. First, while the runway photos were color accurate, that seemingly translucent, backlit quality exhibited in the photos (that, frankly, made this polish look so special) did not translate to my mani. I don’t know whether that should be attributed to the number of coats I used - I failed to write it down in my notes but I believe it was around 4. Second, this is a PITA to apply. Somewhat thick but thin at the same time – I ended up using the slather and sculpt method (slathering it on willy-nilly, then very carefully cleaning up afterwards). The bottle and brush shape did not help the PITA-ness at all. The bottle is longer than an average nail polish bottle, as a result the brush was very long. If you do your nails often and you’re used to a standard bottle size, you’re probably also used to judging the amount of polish you need in relation to how the polish flows down the brush shaft. For me, judging the polish stream on the brush is an unconscious, automatic action – with this longer brush, more polish than normal flows or drips downward on the brush causing unexpected pooling. That took some getting used to, for sure.

This polish presented an interesting conundrum for me. As a polish blogger, I’m often explaining to people that photos won’t always be accurate. There’s so much that goes into how a color in a photo looks – just to name a few factors, the lighting, the skintone of the model, the camera, and the computer monitor being used to see the photo will all effect how the polish color appears. When I first started blogging again, I went to a photography store to buy a new lighting system because I had long ago chucked my old DIY light box. I tried to explain to the owner of the store what this site is about - he was a career products photographer so he was definitely the right person to talk to about nail polish photo color accuracy. He pretty much told me flat-out, ”you will never get the color in the photo to look exactly how you see it in real life.” I really do make a conscious effort to ensure that my photos are as accurate as possible. I don’t use editing software for color correcting, because, well, I’m bad at it – I only make it worse. So, when accuracy is not possible, I try to make sure that I tell you about it. I know a lot of people get really frustrated when they see a photo of a color on a site, order it thinking that they are getting the color that they saw, only to find the color in real life looks nothing like it looks on the site. I can honestly say that I’ve never felt that way until I got this color. Since I started collecting, I’ve always looked at swatches online before making a purchase. In doing so, I’ve always expected there to be some level of inaccuracy associated with the photos. I was never disappointed when a color ended up being different then a swatch I’d seen… until this color. I guess it’s because there aren’t many colors I come across that seem really unique. This color, in the runway photos, seemed really special – I was expecting a crelly with an inner luminescence, only to get a standard crème. Now been that I’ve in the shoes of a frustrated swatch viewer, I totally understand why peeps complain about that.

With all that said – is this color worth it? Hefty price tag, color inaccuracies, application issues and all? The surprising answer is yes. It’s not what I expected and that was disappointing but I couldn’t find anything in my stash quite like it. And it’s seriously pretty. Totally would have worn this to my wedding if I had owned it at the time (even over my Mother’s objections).

What are your thoughts on color inaccuracies? Is it a pet-peeve or do you leave room for error?

Anywho, that’s enough boo-hooing from me. Behold, my swatches of Zoya NYFW Designer Collection Fall 2012. I know I’ve been saying this a lot about Zoya lately but I really feel like they’ve stepped up their game color-design-wise. Love, love, love this collection – moody, edgy but mature cremes that fit together thematically, now that is a collection of nail polish. Obviously, for me the stand outs are Noot, Evvie, and Natty but Rehka, Toni, and Monica are nothing to scoff at either. All in all, a solid collection definitely worth owning.

Zoya Evvie *cat calls* is a green tinged soot gray creme, with an overall muted, somewhat faded look. I live for colors like this – edgy but not obvious. The application was great, perfect at two coats but this is three.

Zoya Monica is a moody dark eggplant crème. Like Evvie, the application was excellent. This is three coats.

Zoya Natty oh, where have you been all my life. Natty is tough to describe. I know I sound like a broken record - it’s an edgy, moody, darkened, grayed-out denim blue. This collection, and this color in particular, has made me come to a sad realization. What am I going to do when this grayed-out trend is over? Will my passion for polish die with it? Will I ever love another nail polish ever again? Like Evvie, I wore this one to work because it’s not obvious. The application was great – this is three coats.

Zoya Noot is a dark smoky muted army-ish green. Again, like Natty and Evvie, this color is moody and chic. I’ve read that OPI Nein! Nein! Nein! Ok Fein! is a close dupe – I can’t independently confirm that because I haven’t picked up the Germany collection yet. But you can see LTHP’s comparison here. Like the others, application was perfect – this is three coats.

Zoya Rekha (sorry typo on the photo!) is a deep vampy medium red crème – it’s hard to peg the base color, at first glance in the bottle it seemed orange based. On the nail, at one coat, it seemed pink based. Zoya describes it as blood red – that’s accurate. Red is red and like most reds, this one is sexy and flattering. This is three coats, smooth application.

And, finally, Zoya Toni a muted vampy plum-toned oxblood crème. Oxblood. Definitely the “it” shade of last year but what a baffling name for a color. What is the origin of that phrase? Does an ox’s blood look like burgundy? If we’re going for, like, strong, scary animals… Why not lionblood or tigerblood? But I digress, this is 3 coats and the application was perfect.

So, do you agree? Is Zoya stepping up their game? or am I alone on that one?

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Disclaimer: This collection was provided for review by Zoya.

In this post, I have the first half of the OPI Mariah Carey Collection. Really, this collection of 8 polishes is actually two collections – 4 liquid sand polishes and 4 regular polishes. The 4 regular polishes seem thematically disjointed. One gammy-pink, one metallic glassy flecky, a pink hex & holo glitter, and one vampy plum -  these colors don’t really seem related to each other or like they belong together. Also, they don’t seem very Mariah Carey to me. Now, I say that with a grain of salt. While I don’t dislike Mariah Carey, I can’t say that I’m her fan. I mean, like everyone my age, I awkwardly slow danced to her music at middle school dance parties and I certainly have belted out “My All” in the shower once or twice. But, other than that, I don’t really know much about her as an artist nor her sense of style and aesthetic. I assume that my lack of knowledge about Mariah is also why the color names are totally over my head. What is Anti-Bleak? Like… not bleak? Sprung… As in sprung someone out of jail? Are these song titles? Am I just too old to get the pop-culture references here? In any case, the two stand out shades for me were Pink Yet Lavender and Anti-Bleak but overall this set was a little underwhelming. I have high hopes for the Liquid Sand shades though and those will be posted soon, I’m almost done with the swatches.

OPI Anti-Bleak, a gorgeous, luxurious vampy plum creme, is probably my favorite from this set. It’s very flattering to my skin-tone - I got a lot of compliments when I wore this one. The application was perfect at two coats, but this three. It’s almost a dead-on dupe for OPI Casino Royale. I went to visit my MIL recently, I was wearing Anti-Bleak and she was wearing Casino Royale. We both had to do a double take, we thought we might be wearing the same color! (My MIL & SILs love nail polish too, I swear it’s like I was meant to marry into their family. lol.) Upon closer inspection, AB is a smidge more purple toned than CR. CR has redder tones. I bought nearly the whole Skyfall collection so I do plan to post those soon!

OPI A Butterfly Moment is a dusty muted grandma pink with copper shimmer. Not exactly frosty, but it does have a slight speckled effect that reminds me a little of OPI You’re A Doll. The shimmer is slightly iridescent but not noticeably. The application was chalky and took about three coats to even it out. I’m not sure how I feel about this one. I wore it as an NOTD since it was work appropriate but it never wowed me. It just wasn’t particularly flattering on its own.

OPI Pink Yet Lavender is a glitter top coat consisting of medium pink hex glitter and small silvery holographic glitter. This swatch is one coat of PYL over A Butterfly Moment and Anti-Bleak. I said before, ABM on its own was not very impressive but I LOVED it topped with PYL. I so wish I had blinged it out when I wore it. PYL and ABM were definitely meant for each other.

And, finally, OPI Sprung a fuchsia, coppery, gold glass flecky in a reddish copper base. Sprung is in the same vein as OPI Warm & Fozzie and Nicole by OPI Just Bust A Mauve (swatches of both coming soon). Application was good - this is three coats. I like the metallic glass fleck trend and I hope to see it expand into other colors like blue and green soon.

What do you think? Did you pick up any of these colors?

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Disclaimer: This collection was provided for review by OPI’s PR.

So, there I was with my mani set up, sitting on the couch, in front of the television. And Roy, our beloved, very clumsy Welsh corgi, was sitting under the table. He needs constant pets and becomes very distressed when he isn’t being actively loved. Since I was doing my nails, I was not paying attention to Roy. He started whining, as if to say, “give me pets now please.” We’re still not quite sure what happened next, but in our attempt to reconstruct the events that followed we determined that Roy, noticing that I had been unmoved by his whines for affection, decided to take matters into his own hands. We think he was trying to get onto my lap. Roy jumped, hitting his head underneath the table, catapulting it, and everything on it, over. He immediately ran away in fear and hid under the bed.

I tried to take one of those dog shaming photos but the marker I used wasn’t dark enough lol.

Needless to say, the light bulb shattered into a million pieces. The day this happened, I was trying to get some swatching done and it made me really frustrated. I started stomping around the house angrily, complaining about Roy’s love-me-now tyranny. Both dogs and my husband felt my wrath. After I took an anger nap and was able to behave rationally again, I decided to go out and try to buy a new bulb. But the fall damaged the actual lamp as well and the new bulb we bought didn’t work. It was a comedy of errors because my husband, convinced that the lamp still worked, kept trying to jimmy the bulb until it, too, shattered all over. Finally, we gave up and went out again, this time to buy a new lamp.

I bought this lamp at Staples for $37.99. I’m pretty happy with it so far – it uses the same 4 prong bulb as the old lamp so I get the same amount of lighting. It’s very light and doesn’t take up much space so it’s great for my small mani table. It’s also easy to adjust and move unlike my old lamp. The new one has been knocked over by Roy a few times already, since it’s lighter than the old one, it falls without breaking. In the end, I guess it’s okay that Roy’s clumsy need for constant love resulted in the death of my old lamp because I ended up with a better one. (But I think I would have liked to have saved the $40 bucks.)

Do your pets ever interfere with your polishing? : P

China Glaze Escaping Reality is a vibrant, bright hot pink creme that borders on neon. It dries a bit matte as neon-ish colors tend to do. This swatch is 3 coats. It applied pretty well, especially considering that neons typically do not. This is 3 coats, but it would have been good at 2. This photo is a bit inaccurate – in real life, the color leans blue.

China Glaze Whirled Away is 1 of the 3 indie glitter-esque polishes in this collection. It’s thin black bar glitter, black medium hex glitter, and very large white hex glitter suspended in a clear base. Like I explained before, I’m not very experienced with these types of polishes. A few more learned bloggers have noted that the fish & dab method is best with these larger hex glitter polishes. That’s what I did for this photo and it worked pretty well for me. Once I had all the glitter placed the way I wanted, I topped it with a very thick coat of Gelous to fill the crevasses left by the dabbing. In this swatch, I layered Whirled Away over Escaping Reality.

China Glaze Water You Waiting For is probably my favorite from this collection. It’s composed of blue micro glitter, very small green hex glitter, and medium blue hex glitter in a blue tinted base. The glitter is buildable - this is what it looks like at 4 coats with absolutely no undie. I used 3 coats of Gelous to smooth it out.

China Glaze It’s A Trap-eze is packed densely with a ton of glitter – I spotted aqua, green, purple, silver, yellow, red, and white. The sizes seem to be either medium hex and very small hex. All of that glitter is suspended in a bluish white base – not quite jelly but definitely translucent. This swatch is 4 coats of It’s A Trap-eze topped with 3 coats of Gelous. I didn’t like the look of this at 4 coats – it looked busy and clumpy. With polishes like this, I always think, the more coats, the better – and I always, always regret it. It was really lovely at 2 coats and I should have left well-enough alone. When I wear it again, I plan to layer a single coat over a light blue.

China Glaze Surreal Appeal is a vivid salmon-ish, coral pink creme. This is 3 coats. The application was finicky, thick but patchy at the same time. It all evened out at 3 coats.

China Glaze Running in Circles is a dazzling, glow-y grass-green glass-fleck glitter (woot! alliteration!) with a transparent grass-green tinted base. The shade leans a bit yellow and the flecks give it a foil-like finish. The photo simply does not do this color justice. This is 3 coats of color with 3 coats of Gelous. Running in Circles is a topcoat cannibal for sure.

China Glaze Igniting Love is a mango toned red crelly. I wore it as an NOTD. The color applied exceptionally well, glided on with minimal effort. I did 3 coats because I had VPL at 2. Although this color isn’t exactly unique, I really liked it. Orange based reds tend to be flattering on darker skin tones like my own. I go ages without wearing red but every time I wear a good red, I totally get why it is such a beloved nail color.  I know I rag on companies for releasing reds all the time, but I’ll eat my words and stop hating for a minute (but just one minute).

China Glaze Hanging in the Balance is a very well pigmented bright medium sky blue crème. Gorgeous, but definitely a stainer so beware. This is 3 coats - because it’s so pigmented, it would have been perfect at 2. This photo is a bit inaccurate - it’s a more saturated blue in person.

China Glaze Bend Over Backwards is a glowy orange toned shimmery red. The brushstrokes disappear once it’s dry. This is 3 coats but it was good at 2. This color was my least favorite in the set and I felt like it didn’t fit the collection’s wacky, whimsical theme.

China Glaze Get Carried Away is very small black and silver hex glitter, black bar glitter, and large black, copper, and silver hex glitter suspended in a black tinted base. It was tough to apply without using the dabbing method. This swatch is 1 coat of Carried Away over Bend Over Backwards and two coats of Gelous to smooth it out. Ommorphia put this over Def Defying which turned out to be a waaaaaaay better color combo.

China Glaze Def Defying is a yellowed based Shrek green creme. For me, the application was finicky – it took about 4 coats to even out the patchiness.

And, finally, China Glaze Creative Fantasy a bright neon-ish purple crelly. LOVED the color - very flattering. The formula is thin so it took about 4 coats to get to this level of opacity.

*whew* *wipes sweat of brow* I have a huge swatching back log from the recent lack of posting so stay tuned for a lot of great stuff coming up soon. : )

What do you guys think about this collection? Which shades made it in to your stash and why?

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Disclaimer: This collection was sent for review by China Glaze.

By now, the novelty of the flakey gold top coat has warn off a bit. Almost every major brand, and many smaller/indie brands, have released their rendition of the gold leaf top coat. Two gold flake polishes have made their way into my collection, so here is a comparison of the two. I wish that I had Zoya Gilty to add to this comparison. Believe me, I felt compelled to buy it and the battle to refrain from doing so was hard fought. From swatches online, Gilty looks very similar to OPI The Man With the Golden Gun so I had a nail polish Sophie’s Choice. I love both brands and feel like I need to collect everything they release, mostly for the purpose of having an adequate “library” of polishes for this blog. Second, I am a total sucker for gimmicky polishes. However, the price tag that these polishes carry was a major deterrent to the “I need to own it just to own it” reasoning that I typically apply to my purchases. (I mean, let’s face it for a second… When you hoard nail polish, you probably don’t need anything because chances are your collection already contains something similar). In the end, I couldn’t justify owning two very similar polishes in the $30+ price tag range. Once I made that decision, the next issue was deciding which one to get. A lot of factors were taken into consideration. First, I love James Bond, love, and I especially loved Skyfall. The TMWTGG packaging and presentation also appealed to me even though I usually abhor opaque bottles. Finally, the price for TMWTGG on ebay, at the time, was less than $35, so it was more cost-effective than Gilty.

I will also admit that I was a little annoyed with Zoya. Don’t get me wrong, I love Zoya but I’m going to hate on them for a minute. Gilty was released around the same time that they released a couple of other limited edition sets of polish. This was incredibly distressing to me as a person who has a perpetually empty bank account. If something expensive is limited edition and I only have a couple of days to buy it, depending on what time of the month it is, the sad reality may be that I just can’t justify the purchase. Gilty and the Peter Som 2013 trio fell victim to this problem. I wanted these sooooo bad but I just couldn’t splurge during the tiny window of time that these were available. Food > Nail polish, right? Zoya’s twitter account taunted me daily: ”Get these while supplies last, once it’s gone - it’s gone!” It made me question my existence a little - my inner monologue: “Why did I go to law school?” “Why did I take out 9 katrillion school loans?” “Why have I made so, so many poor financial choices that have culminated in this paycheck-to-paycheck life style?” “I love my job but this sucks, do I need to give up something I love to find something that pays more?” When those sets went out of stock, I almost felt alleviated. And I quickly came to terms with the fact that I wouldn’t be able to own them since I wasn’t going to pay exorbitant ebay prices.

Weeks later, after all that inner turmoil, Gilty was restocked and the polishes I wanted from the Peter Som trio were released in Zoya’s Spring 2013 collection. I still passed on Gilty because, by then, I had already budgeted for, and purchased, OPI MWTTGG. I wasn’t upset about the Peter Som polishes since I begged Zoya on twitter to re-release those colors and I appreciated the renewed opportunity to get them. But, still, it felt a bit like a slap in the face. One aspect of Zoya as a brand that I love is that they don’t generally make things limited edition and rarely discontinue colors. When they do discontinue shades, it’s usually after the polish has been available for a while. I hope that this situation does not represent a new trend for the company. I also hope that Zoya, before employing the “OMG!!! IT’S LIMITED EDITION!!!” marketing ploy, takes some time to consider the effect that that tactic might have on loyal costumers. Will people be so quick to frenzy over something that is “limited edition” if they know that in the past ”limited edition” actually meant ”limited edition (until we re-release or restock in a couple of weeks)”? On the other hand, I appreciate that I would have been able to acquire these eventually. So, even though I’m complaining, I suppose this weird ‘limited edition but not really’ thing is better than a truly limited edition color that can only be purchased on the nail polish gray market after the initial retail period is over.

*whew* Okay, I’ll stop belly-aching now and get to the actual review. Both swatches are over black. Sephora by OPI It’s Real consists of very small irregularly sized gold flakes suspended in clear polish. I picked this one up at Sephora on clearance for $8, reduced from around $30. I had been eyeballing it after I saw it on twitter used over Sephora by OPI XOX Betsey. I passed originally because of the price tag but did a little happy dance when I was able to pick it up at such a reasonable price. This swatch is one coat. OPI The Man with the Golden Gun consists of larger irregularly sized gold flakes suspended in clear polish. This is two coats. It’s Real had an easier application, surely due to the smaller gold flakes. TMWTGG didn’t disburse evenly so I had to dab to get an even placement of flakies. I picked TMWTGG up on ebay for a reasonable price – I can’t remember now but I want to say it was around $20. These are different enough that owning both is justifiable. I think I like SOPI It’s Real a little better just because it’s more subtle – but I do love the Rorschach test-like  look of TMWTGG. Can you spot the continent of Africa on my nail? Haha.

Did you pick up or skip the gold flake trend? If you indulged, which one did you get?

Rescue Beauty Lounge Aqua Lily is turquoise with very subtle fuchsia shimmer. The shimmer isn’t really visible in most lights, it’s just a gleam that gives the turquoise some depth. Good application, this mani was 3 coats. As expected with shades like this, beware, it’s a slight skin stainer. Aqua Lily was by far the most popular from this set of re-releases. I believe that after RBL launched BIB4, Aqua Lily sold out almost immediately and it’s still sold out now. Hopefully, more stock will be available soon. I’ll try to find out the status and let you know.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle – oh beloved, Recycle. This color is easily in my Top 20. It’s the perfect vibrant medium green – not too dark, not too light. Great application – perfect at 2 coats, but in this photo I did 3.  Years ago, this color was truly unique. There really was nothing else quite like it. Now, with the wider availability of greens, I’m sure there are close dupes out there. But this color still holds a really special place in my heart. Although I’ve written about this color before (you can see the original post here), I took the prospect of writing this post as an opportunity to pull this one out from my tried drawer and update the photo. So… so… gorgeous.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Insouciant is a light grapple with very subtle, nearly invisible blue shimmer. Like Aqua Lily, the shimmer mostly adds depth. Application was perfect. I wore this color after wearing two PITAs in a row and it reminded me of how wonderful it is when a polish glides on smoothly. I was pleasantly surprised by this color, it’s a purple that was actually flattering to my skin-tone, a real rarity. And I think it qualifies as “work apropos with an edge.” Chic and sophisticated come to mind.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Piu Mosso. Mmm… how to describe… It’s so mysterious. Inky eggplant? Is it blue or is it purple? Most bloggers say it’s blue but Piu Mosso really leaned purple to my eye, it’s a tough call. And the shimmer? Subtle copper and green microshimmer?  It has a slight duochrome quality to it, in some angles it’s visibly copper and in others green. Definitely a good base for a shifting top coat. The truth is that the photos online just don’t do this shade any justice. This is what Clarins 230 would look like after going to college, getting in with the bad crowd, dying her hair black and reading a lot of Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. It totally speaks to the angsty teenager inside me. I *l*o*v*e* it.

*Cat calls* Looook at that shimmah. On the nail, it isn’t exactly invisible, but it’s not as prominent as it is in the bottle. The shimmer reminds me of black ball point pen ink after it has exploded all over everything. I did notice, after a few days of wear, the color seemed to darken. The shimmer seemed to fade and virtually disappeared from the surface of my nail.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Opaque Nude – the name is pretty self-descriptive. I previously reviewed this here. Here’s an excerpt: “My swatch is darker due to lighting and my skin tone which brings out the ‘nudeness’ of this color. In my opinion, Opaque Nude is border-line business appropriate, perfectly okay for a less conservative office. I say this only because it might be too obvious. I feel like business appropriate colors have to be subtle, pretty but not necessarily noticeable and for most people this color will be very noticeable.” It’s so funny to read my older reviews. My opinion about what qualifies as business appropriate has changed a lot. I’ll have to pull this one out and see if I still feel like it’s too “noticeable” after a few months of wearing some markedly non-office appropriate colors to work.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Starfish Patrick. This is another shade that I previously reviewed: “Described as “wispy peach coral”, it’s definitely the most accessible of the [Sponge Bob Collection shades]. Bikini Bottom is my personal favorite, but my NOTD right now is Starfish Patrick, primarily because it’s subtle enough for work.” You can see the whole post here. I apologize for recycling photos – especially these since they’re so tiny in comparison to my new photo style. I do plan to eventually rephotograph colors as I re-wear them.

Did you pick up any of the BIBs? Any colors you wish RBL would re-release?

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Disclaimer: All shades were sent for review by Rescue Beauty Lounge, expect Recycle which I purchased myself. I can’t remember how I got Opaque Nude – it’s possible it was also sent to me for review.

This post would have been only a day late when I started writing it but I was overcome with exhaustion and decided to go to bed early. I’ve been buried at work; between that and holiday stuff, it’s been tough to find any extra time. The blog languished a bit. The good news is I’m finally over the hump and work will be less stressful for the next few weeks. This means I can get back to blogging and other nail polish related endeavors (like…updating my collection spreadsheet, hello?) Sadly though, for the past few weeks, I didn’t get to do anything exciting nail-wise. Oh, did I have big plans – we’re talking candy canes, snowman, googly-eyed reindeer, the works. Despite my best intentions, I only had time for the standard glitter fare. So, here it is, my abstract work of art entitled: Christmas NOTD for the Lazy Procrastinating Busy Nail Enthusiast.

I started off with Rescue Beauty Lounge Bella as an undie. Bella is a beige toned non-stark white crelly. By comparison OPI Don’t Touch My Tutu! is a more translucent/jelly-like, pure white. This is a finicky polish – not exactly hard to apply but required roughly 4 coats to even out. When Bella was sent to me for review, Ji told me that this polish is self-leveling, consequently fewer strokes would be key to flawless application. I’m sure that’s true, but I’m a habitual multiple-stroker. I basically use additional strokes to smooth everything out. If you watch a nail tech, usually they do one stroke down the middle, then one on either side of the nail bed. Three strokes tops, that’s it. I usually do about 5. It’s a bad habit, I know, but I can’t help it after all this time.

I topped Bella with Sephora by OPI Good Tidings We Bling! which consists of small green and red glitter, large green and red hex glitter, and smaller, darker green hex glitter suspended in clear polish. I definitely over-blinged this mani. It was really pretty at one coat so I thought, “Well, gee, if I love one coat so much, two coats will be amazing.” Nope, two coats just looked clutter-y. I topped it off with two coats of Gelous and one coat of Seche Vite. I bought Good Tidings We Bling! on sale at Sephora for 7 bucks a few weeks ago (only after a good bit of encouragement from my husband who thought it would be fun for Christmas. Really, what more can I ask for?) If you love it, check your local Sephora – it’s surely a lot cheaper now.

With all that said, even with the soul crushing work stress, I had a really great holiday. We did a lot of eating and a lot of laughing. And gift-wise, totally made out like a bandit. *puts on green & red Zorro mask : P* I hope everyone had a really wonderful holiday season, filled with joy, family, friends, laughter, delicious food and thoughtful gifts. <3

How were your holidays? Did you do a festive mani? Did you get any nail polish from Santa? : )

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Disclosure: Bella was sent for review by Rescue Beauty Lounge. Good Tidings We Bling was purchased by me.

United Way has set up a Support Fund to help the community in Newtown, here’s a link with more information if you would like to donate. If you would like to find out about other ways to help, here’s a helpful article: CNN – Help For Victims of Sandy Hook Shooting.

If you are wearing (or wore) white for Newtown - feel free to post a link or a photo in the comments.

Essie Boxer Shorts is a light muted periwinkle creme. This photo isn’t accurate – in real life the shade is much less vibrant. These blue/purple shades are just impossible to photograph accurately. The application was good, this is 3 coats. I liked this color more than I expected to – it complimented my skintone nicely.

Essie Spinning Again is a dark brick red crème – also very flattering. The application was smooth like butter. This is 3 coats. I wore Spinning Again during the work week. I think most reds will fly at all but the most conservative offices but Spinning Again, being a red terracota-like shade, is particularly work safe.

Essie Pilates Hottie is a mushroomy lilac. If you’ve read through my archives, then you probably know that lilac is one of my white whales – I *love* lilacs but they all look HORRENDOUS on me. Pilates Hottie, which leans pink, did not look terrible… dare I say, it even looked good. The application however, left something to be desired. The formula was chalky which caused the polish to apply unevenly. I smoothed everything out with a thick slathering of Seche Vite. I’ve found that a self-leveling quick drying top coat like Seche will fix most polishes with problematic application.

Essie Marathin is medium dusky, grayed-out rose-pink. I believe this is what is often referred to as a “grandma” color - still though, it’s professional and flattering. While I get, and appreciate, the gym motif of this collection, but my inner-feminist is not a fan of the name. It would have been much cooler to name this classic shade Marathon instead of Marathin. The formula was a bit thick and it took 3 coats to even everything out.

Essie Gym Dandy is a grey-toned putty with a touch of brown and army green. From this set of colors, I was most excited about Gym Dandy, love it. This color is ”professional, but edgy” personified. It’s slightly darker on the nail than in the bottle. Applied well, would have been good at 2 coats but this is 3 coats.

And finally – this one you’ve already seen but to keep the collection together, I’m reposting the photo.

Essie Yogaga is definitely my favorite from this set. You can read my original post here. Last time I posted Yogaga, people wondered how it stacked up against OPI Did You ‘Ear About Van Gogh and Chanel Frenzy. I still don’t have DYEAVG (Sorry! I’m working backwards so I’m still picking up La Collecion De Espana!) but Frenzy is slightly darker and much more pink toned – not dupish at all.

I’m behind the game since Essie’s Winter collection is already out – my friend recently wore Essie Beyond Cozy and it was ridiculously gorgeous. I hope to have swatches up soon.

So what’s the verdict? Love it, hate it? Is an all crème finish collection the kiss of death?

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Disclaimer: This collection was sent for review by Essie’s PR representative.