Polish Review - Julep "Leah"

I just received my new Julep box, which means it's time for me to kick myself in the rear end and finish up last month's polishes!

Today for you, my darlings, I have Julep's "Leah", the last of the It-Girl January 2012 Maven polishes. This is the grass green, with a strong lacing of shimmer.

 

Grass green with a hint of shimmer describes this color well. It's surprisingly unique in my collection, and it is going to be a great color for summer. I'm not such a fan of it in winter, but hey, worse things have been worn out of season, right?

The color actually did last pretty nicely. Application was a little difficult; it did not want to dry, and it did not want to go on evenly after two coats, even though it definitely was a three-coater. In spite of this, I was glad that I got it, and it filled a hole in my colors. :)

Polish Review - Julep "Hayden"

Hey guys! I have one of the polishes I chose to receive in my Julep Maven January 2012 "It-Girl" box. This month, "It-Girl" came with three lovely polishes. I was so happy to receive them because my usual style box, "Bombshell", had the Megan color I loved, but I knew I would probably never wear the pale, powder pink that accompanied it.

Julep 'Hayden" is one of their new colors coming out for the summer collection. It is a neon pastel peach creme, with strong orange undertones. It looks electric on my skintone -- I am very pale. I actually got some compliments on this one from some unexpected people (including a friend who's a guy!), so that was a nice bonus. It does definitely make a statement, and much more than you might think at first glance.

These were my only other orange-coral-pink cremes that presented any relationship (plus one random blue that joined the fun on the wheel), and as you can see, I do not have any similar shades. "Hayden" is very unique.

"Hayden" lasted on my nails fairly nicely, actually. I wore it for three days with only a little edgewear, though once it went, it went pretty quickly, with some nasty flaking halfway down my (short) nails.

Application was not too bad for a pastel. It was a little streaky -- this is definitely a three or four coater, depending on how thick your coats are. I let it dry overnight, because I did not space my coats very much. My experience is usually that these kinds of polishes take awhile to dry, so beware the pastel formula in general if you have to polish and go quickly.

Overall, this was my unexpected "like" out of my Julep box for January. :)

Polish Review - Zoya "Holly"

I have a beautiful nail polish to share with everyone today! I have Zoya's "Holly" from their Holiday 2011 "Gems and Jewels" collection. I would have chosen this one myself, but it was sent to me in my November 2011 Birchbox as a half-sized sample. I may have to buy the full-size eventually -- it's beautiful!

 

You can really see the depth and texture of this polish, even in the bottle. I love greens and blues like this -- I think this one honestly looks like a true emerald green. 

Forgive the dent (in #15) -- I think I may have smacked my nail wheel against the desk right after I swatched it.

As you can see, I do not have anything in my collection quite like "Holly."

I wore it as a pedicure color, since I wanted to get a good feel for how long it wore. It lasted fairly nicely, though I admit that I rarely am as much of a stickler for chipping or "mushing" on toes as I am on fingers. It is a fabulous color on, and looks great.

As a caveat, it takes forever to dry. I think I may have given this an overnight between coats, and the second coat still started to gum up a little bit. Definitely not a quick manicure, but so worth it once it is on and where it is supposed to be!

I also bought "Twila" from this collection from Birchbox when it had free shipping. Overall the collection is very original and very, very pretty.

Polish Review - Julep "Trina"

The last polish from the November 2011 "Polish Lovers" Maven box for you guys is Julep "Trina". Trina is a very pretty dark purple with a soft shimmer running through it.

The polish, shown here with a flash, is a very pretty color, though the shimmer is nowhere near as apparent in person. I ended up actually wearing it with a topcoat of Julep Vanessa in person because I wanted something a little bit more sparkly, and judging from the bottle, I was thinking Trina would be very sparkly on its own. No such luck. :( You can see this in the next photo, number 7 below.

 

Application wise, it's a little bit thick and difficult to get to dry.  Because of this and its color, it reminded me a lot of China Glaze "Lofty Ambitions". While they are not dupes, they are definitely cousins.  They are 7 and 10 in the next picture, just for comparison purposes:

It lasted very nicely, especially with the Vanessa as a top coat. There was very little chipping for the first couple days, though I must say that once it went, it was whole-nail flakes coming off!

Very pretty color. I like how Julep takes classic tones and makes them really special.

Polish Review - Julep "Michelle"

Hello, everyone! I have another Julep polish for you guys today. This one is also from the November Maven "Polish Lovers" Box, which was released specially last month as a one-time option. It's a good thing, too! I probably would always pick that option and never try anything new out of Julep's wonderful products.

This is the dark navy blue creme out of the set:

 The Julep is 15, in the middle. This is with a flash, and swatched next to Nina Ultra Pro "Sailor" on its left, which I thought might be more of a dupe than it really is.

Again, Michelle is on the left.

Finally, one without flash. You can see how dark this is! It's a black-at-a-glance for sure.

I lent out my OPI "Russian Navy" to a friend, but when I get it back, I will swatch them next to each other. I don't think they are dupes, but I know it's the only other dark navy in my collection.

This is a nice color to have; I think it's an essential for any woman because it is such a nice, basic color, and goes with so much. It goes on fairly easily, and it's only a two-coater. You could probably get away with one. There was some edgewear after a day or so, but it didn't start seriously chipping until I started picking at it on Day Three.

Polish Review - Julep "Diane"

Hello, guys! Today I have a polish from Julep, from the November "Polish Lovers" Box. I am so glad this month is almost over. I am looking forward to Thanksgiving break, but otherwise, I really can't wait to have this semester be in the rearview mirror. You guys will remember "Diane":

That murky and mossy green over at left? That's "Diane". :)

Here are some close-ups of the swatches of this polish. I wore it for about two days, and while it didn't chip too badly, I wish that I could say that the appliucation made me happy. The application was painfully bubbly. It was difficult to get it to dry, so it smudged and fingerprinted. I wasn't too happy with how it looked because of this, so I took it off pretty soon after I started to wear it. I'm not sure if it's just a really thick polish, or if something else is awry with it.

Number 9 is "Diane", followed by 10, "Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow."

Another interesting thing is that it is indeed a dead-on dupe for OPI's "Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow". You do not need both. The application may have been slightly better on the OPI, or I might have just been distracted and given it more time to dry between coats. Both polishes are definite two to three-coaters; one coat is a streaky green mess.

I love the color of the polish. It's chic and autumn and a beauty vampy green. I just wish it weren't such a bitch going on my nails -- it's pretty once it's there properly!

Here is one more odious photo for you guys: I have no idea how that hideous dent happened, and they look awful, but it gives you a better sense of the green and some of the mossy look with the flash:

You also can see that for some reason it was a dust magnet. Ow!

That's all for now -- look for "Diane's" sisters sometime soon!

Julep Maven -November 2011 "Polish Lover"

Hello, everyone! I have a package to share with all of you today.

Earlier this week, I received my Julep Maven box for November, 2011. Normally I'm a Bombshell, and while I liked the lipgloss and makeup bag combinations that they had offered, and I did like my nail polish color, but I didn't have the option of changing the color of the lipgloss, which I doubt would have gone very well with my skintone. Soo, I asked for a new shelf pull, and one of the new options they had was a special one-time "Polish Lover" option. In spite of liking the bag, I knew I had to go for that option!

This was a new style of packaging for Julep. Isn't it adorable? I love the little black fillings around the packaging case.

Here I included the special "Polish Lover" card that came with it. I'm always impressed with their presentation and their design team. So professional!

It came with three polishes. From left to right: Diane, Trina, and Michelle. It also came with three little samples of their glycolic hand scrub, SPF 30 hand cream, and the age-defying hand brightener. Since I already received the full sizes of all of these, I will be passing these along to my mother. :)

Swatches and reviews to come! I've already tried out Michelle, and I have a dupe in my collection for Diane, so keep your eyes out for my next posts!

Polish Review - Julep "Vanessa"

Hello again!

I have another Julep polish for you guys. This one also came in my October 2011 Julep Maven Bombshell box. Today I have "Vanessa" for you.

Vanessa is a really pretty, micro-glittery polish suspended in a clear base. It serves best as a topcoat, but I swatched it on its own below.

I think this picture is about 4-5 coats to get the maximum opacity that I could out of it, but as you can see, the glitter is really too fine for it to stand on its own and have full coverage. This picture does have a clear topcoat to bring out the glitter.

I like this polish a lot. When I wore it I wore it over an old, goopy, "never come off your nails" kind of L'Oreal white because it was the only white that I had. It never dried, but at least it was pretty until I had to take off the whole manicure. It looked like snow that has just melted a little bit, so at night it sparkles -- pretty!

Drying time is very quick on Vanessa itself, like any good glitter. It seemed like it wasn't very chippy, though I didn't get to wear it for very long before the bottom layer of white polish got squishy and started sliding off the nail. Ew.

My biggest problem with it is that it's a very goopy polish. For some reason this doesn't equal an impossible drying time, but it does equal going through a LOT of polish, very quickly! You can see that I've used almost a third of the bottle in the bottle picture above. I swatched it on the nail wheel, and I did a two-coat manicure. Eeps! I hope I don't have to buy another round of Van really soon. :(

Overall this is a pretty polish. I think I like it a little more than Chloe, which came in the same Maven box. This one is definitely easy on the application, and much more versatile.

Polish Review - Julep "Chloe"

   While I get caught up, I have one more polish review for you today. For my October 2011 Julep Maven "Bombshell" box, I received a couple of nail polishes. One of them was "Chloe". Chloe is part of their Holiday 2011 collection, and currently unreleased. I love getting the advance "copies" of the nail polish -- it's the same thing that I do for advanced copies of books and other products. It makes me feel like the ultimate VIP, hehe.

   Chloe is superb-looking in the bottle. It is a gorgeous magenta shimmer/micro-glitter suspended in a black base. It sparkles in the bottle, and the magenta is very apparent. However, and this picture with a flash was the best I could get that showed the shimmer at all, once you get it on the nail (or nail wheel, where it is pictured next to Hard Candy "Beetle", which I thought would be more of a sister color when I only had Chloe to compare to it in its bottle), it loses a lot of the glow that is in the bottle. I added a top coat on my manicure, which zests it up a little than in the above photograph (without the top coat), but it's still nothing like in the bottle.
   I hate to say it, but this had some of the most difficult application I have tried in a long time. The manicure I have with Chloe right now is actually its second attempt. The first time I did my real nails with it (which are admittedly a little short right now after a very stressful couple of weeks), I was so irritated with how it looked that I peeled off every nail. Long story short: when Chloe arrived, it had a consistency somewhere between glue and congealed blood. It got a little better after I shook it up, but I still had the urge to put a drop of thinner into it -- and it's brand new! It goes in in big, chunky coats that are difficult to control, and I had it dripping everywhere on my cuticles. The Polish Paradigm has a good view of what tends to happen with this polish. (I'm glad I found the pic, because now I know I'm not the only one!) The second time I put on Chloe, I spent a lot of time and concentration getting it on in tiny thin coats. I was a little more happy when I did it this way, and then I plopped on a top-coat which brought back a little bit of a shine. I would say that it dried just a bit shinier than a satin -- sort of like if you have a really heavy glitter (except of course, Chloe doesn't appear to have once it's on the nail...).
   Although application is ridiculously difficult to control, it looks very nice once the whole process of getting it on the nail and top-coated is finished. It looks very darkat a glance, but not completely black -- almost a very dark chocolate, which is probably a result of black base+purple shimmer. Once the light hits it, it almost looks like the glitter is deeper than the base color, so it has a little bit of a jelly-like finish, but not a lot.
   On the whole, I like the polish and I am glad that I received it. I think it is a good holiday color, but just plan to take a little time putting it on, and focus!

  

Polish Review - Julep "Stefani"

   Today, as promised, I have for you Julep's "Stefani" nail polish. I received this in my September 2011 Julep Maven "Bombshell" box. It is a gorgeous steel-gunmetal base with gold and olive shimmer coursing through it. It's a lovely color, very trendy, but classic at the same time. It is really keeping with some of the olive tones that have been on the runways and in a lot of the Fall 2011 nail polish collections, but the fact that the olive seems to come more from the shimmer than the base is very different than any of the other polishes I have seen.

   I wore this to a business casual-y event a couple of weekends ago, and it was lovely. The application is pretty smooth, and for being almost-a-frost it wasn't too brushstroke-y. You have to pay attention when you put it on, or else it will be a little bit brush-stroked, but it's not too bad overall. I wore it over the Julep base coat I was sent in August, and it seemed to last very nicely. It did take forever to dry. This one is definitely a "apply before going to bed" or you risk gouging it.

   This is a very nice color, and it seems to last well. Although this is not to suggest that it is in any way dupe-y, I spent a lot of time staring at this polish and trying to figure out why it seemed so familiar. For some reason -- and I think it's the dull-gunmetal-turns-greenish-in-some-light aspect, it reminds me a lot of Chanel Black Pearl. Black Pearl is much greener and much darker, but this one is a nice, shimmery sister shade in some ways. It also reminds me of some of the "dud" photos of OPI "Not Like the Movies". The TraceFace Philes has a beautiful set of swatches and macros of the bottle.

  Did you get "Stefani"? Did you get another shade and wish you had "Stefani"? Share!

Polish Review - Julep "Zoe"

Today I have a really pretty polish to share with all of you. It was one of my introductory Julep Maven box polishes for "Bombshell". I think I like it a little more than the other, since I'm not much of a pink girl, but I did need a good pink, so I'm not complaining! Julep Zoe is a really bright copper, like a brand-new penny. I wore it with the new basecoat that I also received as a Maven.

I adore the bright metallic colors, especially copper (maybe because my hair has copper highlights all through it). It reminded me at a glance of Revlon's "Copper Penny", but once I looked at the bottles (and I compared them in swatches) I realized that "Zoe" is much, much more metallic and brighter, whereas "Copper Penny" has more of a silver shimmer and is a more muted color overall.

The other nice thing about this color, besides the application (which is only the slightest bit brushstroke-y, is that is lasted pretty well, especially with the basecoat. In reference to brushstrokes, though, I should say that while I think it looks a lot more metallic, they market it as a frost.

I love this color and I think that even if I hadn't received it from Julep, it would have been on my to-buy list. It's a great copper, and very eye-catching. Squared Nails has a great swatch up with a couple of other Julep polishes. Just lovely!

Polish Review - OPI "Suzy Says Feng Shui"

Today I have one of my all-time favorite nail polishes to share with you. It's the medium blue-teal, gorgeous, stunning creme...

... Suzy Says Feng Shui, a stunningly beautiful polish with an incredibly rich depth and a beautiful, smooth application. I would wear this polish forever if I didn't get bored with everything after a day or two. :-P

It appears light blue in a lot of swatches, but it is definitely a deeper color -- it may be medium in tone, but the color looks a mile deep, and that is with only two coats! I adore this color. It has just enough of a hint of green to push it to a teal in some lighting (squee!), but not enough to be a full-out teal color.

This polish was part of the "Hong Kong" collection, which I am sure I raved about on one of my other "Hong Kong" reviews. It also is the one responsible for hooking me into nail polish and OPI.

This is a must-have polish. It looks fantastic, wears well, and packs a punch without being too bold; it's an elegant blue.

For swatches, Nikki's Nails has a nice view of the "blue" look for the polish, and All Lacquered Up catches a little of the teal.

Julep Maven - "Bombshell" Introductory Box

So... Many of you have heard of Julep, a Washington-based company that deals in manicure products. I knew about them for their nail polishes, which I had never tried but was very curious about. Recently they launched a new program called "Julep Maven", which is similar to BirchBox but consists of products that are mostly full-size, tailored to your personality profile, and include nail polishes. In spite of some of the drama that has arisen with the program's "add a friend" program, I have so far really enjoyed getting my monthly presents from Julep.

 

Pretty nice haul, isn't it? And only $20!

I got two shades of nail polish -- Samantha and Zoe, as well as a base-coat. I'll review all three eventually, but so far I have used Zoe and the base-coat, and it has adhered pretty well for five days of wear, especially through the body of the nail. 

I also received a wonderful hand-scrub and a couple samples of a glycolic SPF-laden hand creme. I like the scrub a lot and I hope it works to get my hands' skin tone back to even after the summer outside!

A Guide to Fall 2011 Nail Polish: Part II - Trends and the Best

Trend Alerts, and the Best Thereof

Red Shimmers/Metallics:

Reds tended to be slightly on the purple side, and glitter/shimmer/metallic effects were in.

Butter London - "Knees Up" [Re-release] - Lipgossiping (Deep ruby metallic)
OPI - "A Color to Diner For" - Polishaholic (Bright red shimmer)

Burgundy/Wines

As always a glorious fall shade (and one of my favorite colors in fashion, period), burgundy was in, both in shimmers and cremes.

China Glaze - "Lofty Ambitions" - Scrangie (Reddish wine shimmer)
Zoya - "Anja" - Scrangie (Very dark reddish burgundy creme)


Medium Red Cremes

There were so many of these! I didn't care much for the jellies, but a couple of the richly saturated cremes are gorgeous.

China Glaze - Brownstone - Scrangie (Brown-toned red creme)
Color Club - "Red-ical Gypsy" - Polishaholic (Blue-toned red creme)


Coral/Light Pink Shimmers

Another huge trend. I don't see why this is a fall shade at all, but there are always some pink-lovers... right? OPI conquered it; I liked all of these the best.

OPI - "I Eat Mainely Lobster" - Polishaholic (Light coral shimmer)
OPI - "Are We There Yet" - Polishaholic (Light melon-coral shimmer)
OPI - "My Address is Hollywood" - Polishaholic (Light rose-coral shimmer)


Berries

Typical fall color, only one standout.

China Glaze - "Traffic Jam" - Scrangie (Berry pink/purple creme)

Purple Cremes/Glitters

Light, dark, grey-ed out, plum, periwinkle... purple was everywhere.

Zoya - "Jana" - Scrangie (Light grey-purple creme)
Butter London - "Toff" - Squared Nails (Dusty rose/purple creme)
Zoya - "Neeka" - Polishaholic (Light plum with gold glitter)
SpaRitual - "Sacred Ground" - Polishaholic (Light purple with lavender and gold glitter)

Metallic Gold/Greens

Hi, my name is Chanel Peridot, and along with my sister, Graphite, I am the top trendsetter this season.

Butter London - "Wallis" - Squared Nails (Golden/green foil)
Chanel - "Peridot" - Iron Spy (Gold with green duochrome effect, foil)


Avocado/Olive/Military Green

The seventies rule the catwalks... and the nail polish sets.

FingerPaints - "Catwalk Queen" - Polishaholic (Mustard creme)
OPI - "Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window" - Polishaholic (Olive-grey creme)
Zoya - "Yara" - Polishaholic (Olive-grey shimmer)
Nicole by OPI - "Green Up Your Act" - Polishaholic (Medium army green, greyed-out creme)
Zoya - "Dree" - Polishaholic (Olive yellow-green creme)
China Glaze - "Trendsetter" - Scrangie (Avocado/mustard shimmer)


Tiffany's Turquoise

Not, again, a real fall color, but it's still out there, and it's a big trend.

Color Club - "New Bohemian" - Polishaholic (Light turquoise blue creme)


Teals and Rich Blues

Cremes and shimmers alike from medium to dark shades dominated. Dior's "Tuxedo" is probably a contributing factor.

FingerPaints - "Vintage Velvet" - Polishaholic (Medium blue-green creme)
China Glaze - "Concrete Catwalk" - Scrangie (Dark grey blue-green creme, edges blue)
Color Club - "Blue-Topia" - Polishaholic (Inky dark blue jelly)
Dior - "Tuxedo" - Vampy Varnish (Medium blue shimmer)
Zoya - "Marina" - Polishaholic (Steely blue shimmer)


Grey

Grey cremes. Every shade and tone. That is all.

Sephora by OPI - "Frankly I Don't Give a Dam" - Polishaholic (Medium tan-grey creme)
FingerPaints - "Stunning Stilettos" - Polishaholic (Medium blue-grey creme)
Deborah Lippman - "Stormy Weather" - Ommorphia Beauty Bar (Dark blue-grey creme)


Dark Brown

I love browns and dark browns, so this one is a favorite trend of mine.

OPI - "Get in the Espresso Lane" - Polishaholic (Dark grey-brown creme)
Zoya - "Codie" - Polishaholic (Dark brown creme)

Taupes

Particuliere's imitators will never, ever die. Can we ever get tired of taupes, though? So elegant.

FingerPaints - "Haute Taupe" - Polishaholic (Medium purple-toned taupe creme)
> China Glaze - "Street Chic" - Scrangie (Darker purple-toned taupe creme)


Silver Glitters and Shimmer

You might have heard Peridot mention me. My name is Chanel Graphite, and I am a trendsetter. Duh.

Chanel - "Graphite" - Polish Police (Silver with heavy shimmer, foil finish)
Nars - "Night Breed" - VampyVarnish (Black with heavy silver glitter)
China Glaze - "CG in the City" - Scrangie (Silver heavy glitter)


Assorted Pretties - Not Trends

These didn't fit any trends, but I still loved them:

Nubar - "Vogue Vert" - Polishaholic (Pale sage creme)FingerPaints - "Cordur-Orange" - Polishaholic (Medium bright burnt orange creme)
Sephora by OPI - "Completely Fern-ished" - Polishaholic (Dark yellow-green creme/jelly)
SpaRitual - "Rhythm of Life" - Polishaholic (Dark green with teal shimmer)
Chanel - "Quartz" - Polish Police (Brown/champagne shimmer/foil)
SpaRitual - "Howl" -  Polishaholic (Black with burgundy shimmer)

A Guide to Fall 2011 Nail Polish: Part I - The Polishes

Swimming in swatches? I was too! Then I sat down and put this together over a couple of weeks of procrastination of things that need to be done for my offline life. :D

First of all, none of these swatches are my own. I wish I had all of them, but I lack the gorgeousness of these ladies' nails, or their spiffy advanced samples. That said, I would like to thank every blogger that put these collections together for me to look through. I chose these swatches because of how nice they are and I hope that it is a compliment to the bloggers, but I am more than happy to remove any links if you prefer it.

So... a few things first that I could not get ahold of when I created this guide:

1. Does Nicole by OPI only have four new shades (the Target exclusives) for fall?
2. Any swatches (or even press releases) for Barielle or KleanColor's fall collections?
3. There was some big whoop about Revlon's new makeup collection being featured somewhere, but they haven't even previewed their shades yet as far as I can tell. Wtf?
4. I don't have swatches for Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon from the Duri collection. If someone can find them, I will be the happiest little blogger in the world. :)

Now, on to the interesting part!

I broke down the endless shades by basic color family first, then put together a "must have colors" list from these options which will be in Part II. The collections used were:


Butter London - Autumn/Winter 2011 Collection
Chanel - "Illusions d'Ombre" Collection
China Glaze - "Metro" Collection
Color Club - "Back to Boho" Collection
Deborah Lippman - Fall 2011 Collection
Dior - Fall 2011 Collection
Duri - "Wine" Collection
Essie - "Brand New Bag" Collection
FingerPaints - "Fall Fashionista" Collection
Misa - "Hip to my Jive" Collection
Nars - "Night Series" Collection
OPI - "Touring America" Collection
Orly "Happy Go Lucky Back to School" Collection
Nicole by OPI - "Something About Color" Target Exclusives
Nubar - "Polished Chic" Collection
Sephora by OPI - "Garden of Good and Evil" Collection
SpaRitual - "Wilde" Collection
Zoya - "Smoke and Mirrors" Collection

Reds/Oranges
Butter London - "Knees Up" [Re-release] - Lipgossiping (Deep ruby metallic)
SpaRitual - "Spirit Child" - Polishaholic (Bright red shimmer)
OPI - "A Color to Diner For" - Polishaholic (Bright red shimmer)
Sephora by OPI - "What's Your Poison?" - Polishaholic (Bright red jelly with glitter)
Nicole by OPI - "I Love You Cherry Much" - Polishaholic (Bright red shimmer)

China Glaze - "Lofty Ambitions" - Scrangie (Reddish wine shimmer)
Nicole by OPI - "Sounds Grape to Me" - Polishaholic (Shimmery burgundy, faint gold duochrome)
Essie - "Carry On" - Trade Secrets (Dark reddish burgundy creme)
Zoya - "Anja" - Scrangie  (Very dark reddish burgundy creme)

Deborah Lippman - "Single Ladies" - Polarbelle (Dark red creme/jelly)
China Glaze - Brownstone - Scrangie (Brown-toned red creme)
Color Club - "Red-ical Gypsy" - Polishaholic (Blue-toned red creme)
Nubar - "Beguiling Carmine" - Polishaholic (Blue-brown red creme)
China Glaze - "City Siren" - Scrangie (Dusty red creme)
Duri - "Bloody Mary" - Beauty Logic (Bright red/orange creme/jelly)
Duri - "Cognac XO" - Lacroix (Terracotta red-orange creme)

FingerPaints - "Cordur-Orange" - Polishaholic (Medium bright burnt orange creme)
Deborah Lippman - "Brick House" - Ommorphia Beauty Bar (Dark orange shimmer)
Essie - "Very Structured" - Trade Secrets (Dark burnt orange creme)
SpaRitual - "Running With Wolves" - Polishaholic (Copper foil)


Pinks/Purples
Misa - "Bop Till You Drop" - Polishaholic (Light coral shimmer)
OPI - "I Eat Mainely Lobster" - Polishaholic (Light coral shimmer)
OPI - "Are We There Yet" - Polishaholic (Light melon-coral shimmer)
Orly - "Flirty" [Swatch on left] - KaylaShevonne (Bright pink shimmer)
OPI - "My Address is Hollywood" - Polishaholic (Light rose-coral shimmer)
Misa - "Pop the Clutch" - Polishaholic (Medium pink with light shimmer)

Misa - "Go for the Pinks" - Polishaholic (Light dusty pink creme)

China Glaze - "Traffic Jam" - Scrangie (Berry pink/purple creme)
FingerPaints - "Raspberry Taffeta" - Polishaholic (Dark berry creme)

Duri - "Dragontini" - Beauty Logic (Dark reddish-purple creme/jelly)
 
Orly - "Frolic" - VampyVarnish (Lavender creme)
Sephora by OPI - "Sin-cerely Violet" - Polishaholic (Lavender shimmer)
Color Club - "Shabby Drab" - Polishaholic (Dusty periwinkle creme)

Duri - "Grape Swirl" [Photograph on right] -  Babblings of a Mommy (Light grey-purple creme)
Zoya - "Jana" - Scrangie (Light grey-purple creme)

FingerPaints - "Purple Pinstripe" - Polishaholic (Medium mauve-purple creme)

Butter London - "Toff" - Squared Nails (Dusty rose/purple creme)
Zoya - "Nimue" - Polishaholic (Light plum with silver shimmer)
Zoya - "Neeka" - Polishaholic (Light plum with gold glitter)
SpaRitual - "Sacred Ground" - Polishaholic (Light purple with lavender and gold glitter)
Zoya - "Petra" - Scrangie (Medium plum creme)
Nars - "Night Rider" - IronSpy (Plum with silver/blue shimmer)
Sephora by OPI - "Eve-y on the Eyes" - Polishaholic (Magenta/purple shimmer)
Color Club - "Rad Nomad" - Polishaholic (Medium-dark dusty purple creme)
OPI - "I Brake for Manicures" - Polishaholic (Dark plum-grey creme)
China Glaze - "Urban Night" - Scrangie (Dark purple creme)
OPI - "Honk if You Love OPI" - Polishaholic (Dark vampy purple creme/jelly)

Butter London - "No More Waity, Katie" [Re-release] - Squared Nails (Purple/pink glitter)
Zoya - "Jem" - Polishaholic (Dark purple with pinkish shimmer)
SpaRitual - "Instinct" -  Polishaholic (Blurple shimmer with magenta)

Yellows/Golds/Greens
Color Club - "Nouveau Vintage" - Polishaholic (Gold with other colors of shimmer)
Sephora by OPI - "Designer Fig Leaf" - Manicure Mommas (Olive/gold shimmer)
Butter London - "Wallis" - Squared Nails (Golden/green foil)
Chanel - "Peridot" - Iron Spy (Gold with green duochrome effect, foil)

Nubar - "Vogue Vert" - Polishaholic (Pale sage creme)
Orly - "Fresh" - VampyVarnish - (Lime green creme)
FingerPaints - "Catwalk Queen" - Polishaholic (Mustard creme)
FingerPaints - "Miliary Green" - Polishaholic (Olive-grey creme)
OPI - "Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window" - Polishaholic (Olive-grey creme)
Zoya - "Yara" - Polishaholic (Olive-grey shimmer)
Nicole by OPI - "Green Up Your Act" - Polishaholic (Medium army green, greyed-out creme)
Zoya - "Dree" - Polishaholic (Olive yellow-green creme)
China Glaze - "West Side Warrior" - Scrangie (Dark olive creme)

Sephora by OPI - "Completely Fern-ished" - Polishaholic (Dark yellow-green creme/jelly)
Deborah Lippman - "Billionaire" - Ommorphia Beauty Bar (Dark forest green creme)

China Glaze - "Trendsetter" - Scrangie (Avocado/mustard shimmer)
SpaRitual - "Rhythm of Life" - Polishaholic (Dark green with teal shimmer)
Nars - "Night Porter" - VampyVarnish (Dark green with gold and blue shimmer)


Blues/Teals

Nubar - "Mod Aqua" [Also "Mod Agua"] - Polishaholic (Light turquoise blue creme)
Misa - "Catch a Flick" - Polishaholic (Light turquoise blue shimmer)
Color Club - "New Bohemian" - Polishaholic (Light turquoise blue creme)
Orly - "Frisky" -  Noelie's Nails - (Light turquoise dusty blue creme)

FingerPaints - "Vintage Velvet" - Polishaholic (Medium blue-green creme)
China Glaze - "Concrete Catwalk" - Scrangie (Dark grey blue-green creme, edges blue)
Sephora by OPI - "My Personal Serpent" - Polishaholic (Dark blue-green creme, edges blue)
Nubar - "Stylish Peacock" - Polishaholic (Medium teal creme)
FingerPaints - "To-Teally Chic" - Polishaholic (Medium teal creme)
Color Club - "Artsy Crafty" - Polishaholic (Dark blue-green creme, edges green)
OPI - "Road House Blues"  Polishaholic (Dark blue creme)
Zoya - "Cynthia" - Scrangie (Dark blue-teal with slight shimmer)
Color Club - "Blue-Topia" - Polishaholic (Inky dark blue jelly)

China Glaze - "Skyscraper" - Scrangie (Denim blue jelly with silver glitter)
Nicole by OPI - "It's Not Me, It's Blue" - Polishaholic (Light blurple shimmer)
Sephora by OPI - "Tempted by Teal" - Polishaholic (Frosty teal shimmer)
Butter London - "Bluey" - Squared Nails (Blue-teal peacock shimmer)
Dior - "Tuxedo" - Vampy Varnish (Medium blue shimmer)
Nubar - "Elegant Indigo" - Polishaholic (Dark blue base with blue and purple shimmer)
Nars - "Night Flight" - VampyVarnish (Cobalt blue with blue and purple shimmer)

Color Club - "VooDoo You Do" - Polishaholic (Gunmetal blue-grey frost)
Zoya - "Marina" - Polishaholic (Steely blue shimmer)


Greys

Nubar - "Faded Putty" - Polishaholic (Off-white creme)
Misa - "Got it Made in the Shade" - Polishaholic (Pale sage green-grey creme)
Color Club - "Nomadic Nude" - Polishaholic (Light tan-grey creme)
OPI - "Suzi Takes the Wheel" - Polishaholic (Medium tan-grey creme)
Sephora by OPI - "Frankly I Don't Give a Dam" - Polishaholic (Medium tan-grey creme)
OPI - "French Quarter for Your Thoughts" - Polishaholic (Medium blue-gray creme)
FingerPaints - "Stunning Stilettos" - Polishaholic (Medium blue-grey creme)
Deborah Lippman - "Stormy Weather" - Ommorphia Beauty Bar (Dark blue-grey creme)

Essie - "Power Clutch" - Trade Secrets (Dark green-grey creme)


Browns/Taupes/Nudes

Chanel - "Quartz" - Polish Police (Brown/champagne shimmer/foil)

China Glaze - "Midtown Magic" - Scrangie (Dark brown-purple with gold shimmer)

Nubar - "Edgy Umber" - Polishaholic (Dark grey-brown creme)
OPI - "Get in the Espresso Lane" - Polishaholic (Dark grey-brown creme)
Color Club - "Rebel Spirit" - Polishaholic (Dark brown creme)
Zoya - "Codie" - Polishaholic (Dark brown creme)

Nubar - "Classic Camel" - Polishaholic (Light nude/tan creme)
Essie - "Glamour Purse" - Polishaholic (Medium tan-toned taupe creme)
FingerPaints - "Haute Taupe" - Polishaholic (Medium purple-toned taupe creme)
OPI - "A-Taupe the Space Needle" - Polishaholic (Darker tan-toned taupe creme)

China Glaze - "Street Chic" - Scrangie (Darker purple-toned taupe creme)

Misa - "Peachy Keen" - Polishaholic (Beige nude with pearl shimmer)
Color Club - "Earthy Angel" - Polishaholic (Dark tan/nude creme) 
Essie - "Case Study" - Trade Secrets (Medium olive-gray nude creme)
Essie - "Lady-Like" - Daily Varnish (Medium mauve-toned nude creme)

Silvers/Blacks
Zoya - "Tao" - Scrangie (Medium steel shimmer)
Chanel - "Graphite" - Polish Police (Silver with heavy shimmer, foil finish)
Nars - "Night Breed" - VampyVarnish (Black with heavy silver glitter)
China Glaze - "CG in the City" - Scrangie (Silver heavy glitter)

Color Club - "Boho Mojo" - Polishaholic (Silver frost/metallic)
SpaRitual - "Howl" -  Polishaholic (Black with burgundy shimmer)

Polish Review - Revlon "Emerald"

Just a quick post while I try and catch up on some things I wanted to highlight...

Alas, the quest for the Dark Green Jelly Nail Polish has still not yielded any fruit (except for comments regarding impossible to find retired shades), so I have yet to try my dream gold shatter over emerald jelly. But while I wait for someone to invent that nail polish, I have a shade named Emerald for you.

Emerald is a dark grassy green that edges onto the blue side. It dries insanely fast and it could get away with one coat -- but that bothers me so I always throw on a second, lol. I also got bored about a day into wearing it and put on a coat of silver shatter. I got a lot of compliments on it, and it looked classy. I think if I was more careful and went for a really even shatter it could be a perfect Slytherin manicure.

Geek? Who, me? Slyth? Who, me?

It is a little on the dupe-y side. And now that I think about it, it definitely has something in common with some photos I have seen online of some (other) beautiful polishes that I covet very much: Daily Varnish in fact has a comparison of it against OPI "Jade is the New Black", which is ironically enough the polish I want right now more than any other.This kind of makes me a little sad in a way, because I always pictured Jade as even more on the blue side with some microshimmer (not that I had any reason to think there was shimmer -- this is just my crazy brain making up nonsense). Oh well. I still probably will spend the five bucks because I have wanted it for so long.


Application was just slightly on the watery side; very little chipping and even a small amount of edge-wear. If you want a really pretty medium green, go for it -- it'll only take a minute to set.


PS: Inspired by how much I liked the fast drying time on this one, I picked up Revlon Top Speed "Royal". Still lusting for "Espresso".

Polish Review - OPI "Chop-Stickin' to My Story"

I have to admit -- the Hong Kong collection was what first really drew me to the OPI lines. I remember seeing the gorgeous counter display at my hair salon and going "I want that!" Unfortunately, I did not buy all of "that" when it was first available, but I have been going back through and acquiring some of the nicer polishes out of it. Cue...

 

Since I'm so light-skinned, I can usually get away with any shade of orange and bronze without clashing too horribly. I was after a bright summer color because I had been seeing swatches for all of the beautiful fall collections and was trying to get away from the greyed out and rich colors of fall. Unfortunately,  "Chop-Stickin' to My Story" tricked me.

"Chop-Stickin' to My Story" is a very nice color. It is a burnt-orange, though, not as bright as it looks in the bottle. It's going to be a beautiful fall shade -- I think it is very close to the shade that pumpkin pies should be when you don't burn them. The application is very smooth, and it is opaque in two coats; my first coat was a little iffy, but when is a first coat ever gorgeous?

This is a great pick for a darker orange. Polish lasted very nicely with just a little bit of edgewear. It probably could have gone a lot longer, but I started getting antsy to get a summer color, just like I had wanted in the beginning of this mani. Vampy Varnish did a really nice swatch of it, so head on over there to see. :)

Polish Review - OPI "Not Like the Movies"

 

Today I have another of the OPI Katy Perry polishes to share -- this one is the purple/silver/green polychromatic "Not Like the Movies".

This is a really pretty polish, and I tend to shy away from most purples and pinks on anti-girly principle, heh. I ended up with the poly/duochrome version of this, though I find the whole "silver NLTM" controversy really interesting. Why? Because I remember that when I first added it to my Amazon wishlist, where I keep track of all of the clothing and cosmetics that I eventually want, I thought of it as a silvery blue, not a purple duochrome. Don't get me wrong - I'm not sorry that I bought the polish, but it is also nice to know that I'm vindicated in my original perception! I did not know at all how "purple/green duochrome" could translate to "silvery blue" in my brain, though stranger things have happened. Now I would really like to find the silver bottle. Now, enough conceptual comments. On to the polish itself.

For some great pictures and a comparison with the dupe-like Deborah Lippman polish "Wicked Game", take a look Polishology's fantastic post.

The application is really nice, though with two coats it is really easy to get semi-visible bald patches that are not really visible until you get it at the wrong angle in the sunlight (though that's annoying as crap for me). Especially when it's going "purple", there is a really nice silver shimmer running throughout, but I have had problems with it "piling up". What I mean by this is that on a couple of nails, I have these goopy little bits where lots of shimmer decided to aggregate once it started to dry. It isn't horrible, but I think you can see it in the Polishology pictures as well. It also likes to collect at the edges of the nail, which you can see in those photos as well.

The color is really, really nice. The "purple" is the predominant color, and it's somewhere between a deep lavender and plum. The "green" is gorgeous and I wish it came out more -- a pretty olive with a lot of shimmer. 

This lasts a nice amount of time --  a little edge-wear, but not a lot of major chipping.

I honestly did not like this with Black Shatter. This is the second time I've tried NWTM, and I got through applying one nail with the shatter last time before I realized it would not work. It effectively kills the duo/polychrome aspect, and looks more like purple leopard print than NWTM+Black Shatter. Hey, wait, I have a shimmery purple/silver leopard print shirt... maybe I'll have to give the combination another chance this winter.

Do I like it? Yes, I wore it before I went to Europe and I almost brought it as one of my three polish choices for wearing over there, but I think the purple holds me back from wearing it a lot -- it's elegant, but I am just not a purple girl. Still, it's definitely staying, and the fact I'm giving it a second/third wear already should say that it is a great polish.