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)

Spring/Summer 2011 - Wear bright orange... on your nails?

Hey, everyone. It has been a crazy couple of months! I have gone through the hell that is finals, a lot of days where, between work and class, I never made it home during the daylight hours. Now all of the academic stress is gone for a few months, but I am still working, and on top of everything else, I'm taking care of a friend's adorable grey and white lop-rabbit. Not so hard -- except for the fact that she escaped from her hutch and wreaked carnage on the apartment a couple of days ago. Best of all, since she managed to get into some leftover tabbouleh, she's on a hay diet until she gets the wheat out of her system. And I am allergic to hay!

Life update aside, I have been meaning to write a little bit on some of what I have been doing fashion-wise in the past couple of... months. Yikes!

Anyway, I love the orange trend that has been going around almost as much as honeysuckle right now -- I always love orange, and I, luckily, already own a lot of orange clothing. I have a pair of killer orange-coral pumps that I'll take any excuse to pull out. I love coral lipsticks and coppery-orange eyeshadows. I think it's a gorgeous spring and early summer color. Nothing spells warm weather (and maybe even some tropical locales on lucky girls' radars) like citrus fruit.

In case you're running a season or three behind, the color has been hot on the catwalks even going back a little bit into last fall. A lot of blogs have done features on how to wear the color, but few have done many looks at how to rock this color as a nail polish.

 

Zoya - "Tanzy"

Reflecting this fashion trend in the beauty world, there are some gorgeous orange shades making the rounds in the nail polish world. It started out really as a springtime hit, but the polish world especially is carrying it over into summer. Zoya released their "Sunshine" collection for summer, featuring "Tanzy", a gorgeous, shimmery orange that glows.

Essie - "Meet Me at Sunset"

Essie - "Braziliant"

China Glaze - "Life Preserver"

Essie included two separate orange cremes -- one is a darker burnt orange, "Meet me at Sunset", and the other is "Braziliant". "Braziliant" is a lighter color with more of a shimmer, but I do not think that it is quite as infused as Zoya's. OPI has not really jumped on this trend, but China Glaze certainly has, meshing it with the nautical theme of their "Anchors Away" collection, which is gorgeous for summer. "Life Preserver" is a really rich color that looks like a reddish creme.

Deborah Lippman - "Lara's Theme"

A little more expensive than these was "Lara's Theme" from Deborah Lippman's summer collection. I think this one has a really pretty vintage and subdued quality that some of the other polishes in this post lack when they pick up the bright color. The website defines it as a "double dutch" orange created in collaboration with Lara Stone. I think it's a lovely color and I will more than likely be picking this up with my next order.




FingerPaints also did a really fun, bright shade for their "Peace, Love, and Summer" collection. It's absolutely gorgeous on everyone who has done blog pieces about it, but I do not think it is available at Sally's Beauty Supply yet. On The NailPhile it seems to have a stunning, heavy shimmer effect to it that I was not expecting from the pictures of the bottle. I cannot wait to pick up one of these. Since it is not out, most of the good pictures of the polish are still on the blogs. Polish-aholic has a really nice one -- take a look over there!

My personal favorite did not come from one of these pretty collections, however, but out of an impulse buy of a Limited Edition Revlon "Fire and Ice" polish a month or so ago. "Siren" is a really pretty creme that held for a good four or five days without major chipping. It edges more towards coral (and matches those aforementioned pumps pretty nicely) and really looked good with a couple of other orange accents in the accessory department. It also has the cutest vintage look to the bottle, which I'm always a sucker for. It looks great on my transparent-pale skin, but coral really suits any amount of tan, so if you want an "in" color that will be versatile as a fall and spring option later, pick up one of these bottles. It is a fairly cheap polish, and should only cost five or six dollars at any drugstore.

Revlon - "Siren"

Have you tried any of the colors here? Feel free to post links to any photographs you have of them -- my own nails are far too short to be good models of these beautiful colors.