keerthamina pretty ballerina

2011-08-28T13:53:00.000-04:00

scheduled post - blog might be quiet for a few days because of hurricane irene. hopefully i'll be back online with you all soon! be safe!

China Glaze Concrete Catwalk: Swatch Picture

2011-08-27T10:58:00.001-04:00

Concrete Catwalk is a nice, dark, blue-toned gray creme! I'm looking forward to wearing this shade once fall fully hits:

The formula on this polish was a little thicker than I expected, but overall quite nice; I used 2 coats to achieve evenness. I love dark gray - it works so much better on my skin tone than medium grays do!

China Glaze Sea Spray: Swatch Picture

2011-08-26T10:55:00.003-04:00

Sea Spray is a polish I wasn't expecting to like quite as much as I did! Normally I avoid cooler-toned colors, but this grayed-out pale blue was surprisingly pretty on my skin tone, I thought:

Sea Spray was opaque in 2 coats, but I wound up doing 3 just for complete evenness. This polish has an almost imperceptible pearly shimmer that gives it a beautiful softness. I will definitely be wearing this one again!

Sephora by OPI Absinthe Makes the Heart: Swatch Pictures

2011-08-25T09:54:00.000-04:00

I don't even know what color to call this shade... gray-green?

It has some interesting irregular shimmer:

Absinthe Makes the Heart required 3 coats for total opacity.

OPI Lincoln Park After Dark: Swatch Picture

2011-08-24T11:15:00.003-04:00

I love a vampy creme, and there's a reason OPI Lincoln Park After Dark is considered to be a classic! 2 easy coats to dark evenness.

Forgive the lack of commentary on some upcoming posts: I just came across a ton of old pictures in my Photobucket and am trying to get them up as quickly as possible, since the new school year is just around the corner and I have tons of things to do! I just know that I'd rather see swatch pictures with minimal commentary than no posts at all, and I hope you guys feel the same way!

Nails Inc. Kabaret: Swatch Picture and Review

2011-08-23T09:14:00.000-04:00

Knowing of my love for Nails Inc. (and its limited availability here in the US… although that's starting to change a bit with part of the Nails Inc. range coming to Sephora!), a sweet friend in the UK threw Kabaret in a parcel as an extra:

I like the smokiness of the color, but unfortunately this shade was thin and required 4 coats for opacity.

Nails Inc. Victoria & Albert: Swatch Picture and Review

2011-08-22T08:54:00.000-04:00

If I recall correctly, Nails Inc. Victoria & Albert is one of the favorites of the red creme queen herself - tobywoo - so you know it has to be good.

And it is! Unfortunately, my picture doesn't do it justice, but Victoria & Albert is a super-smooth, even-flowing, beautiful red creme. When I first wore it, I remember being so impressed with the ease of application and rich pigment of the polish, especially considering that it's quite thin. While V&A was perfect in two coats, it's not quite warm-toned enough to make its way into my very favorites… but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate how lovely and high-quality it is!

Sunday Link Roundup! Multicolored Glitters, Rainbow Water-Marbles, and More!

2011-08-21T09:52:00.000-04:00

Here are some of my favorite posts from the polish blogosphere over the past week!

Alizarine Claws has beautiful swatches of the new OPI Designer Series polishes for fall 2011 - glitter galore! I'm loving the looks of DS Temptation - magenta, purple, and blue glitter in a blue jelly base!
Temptalia also has swatches of a blue and magenta glitter: Nails Inc. Connaught Square, one of the brand's Special Effects 3D Glitters.
Let Them Have Polish has guest posted an AMAZING bright rainbow water-marble manicure on Also Known As, and I'm loving it! I wish I had the skills to pull this off!
Nouveau Cheap has bottle pics of Maybelline's Fashion Week collection for Fall 2011. Purple Trend looks pretty dupeable at first... but when that blue flash appears, OMG! I totally agree that it's reminiscent of MAC Blue Brown pigment, but in nail polish form!
Haul of Fame has some swatches of the glitter-packed Color Club Backstage Pass collection. If you were lemming these polishes, as I was before, you'll definitely want to check out her review.

Vampy Varnish has great swatches of Estee Lauder Metallic Sage - in her words, "a murky sage green base with heavy pink, gold and green shimmer."

Lynnderella Snow Angel: Swatch Picture

2011-08-20T10:16:00.002-04:00

I've been lusting after Lynnderella Snow Angel since I first saw a beautiful manicure with it on my friend Eve - it looked so unique and light and angelic. I was so happy to be able to pick up a bottle of it myself recently!

According to Lynn, Snow Angel features white hexagonal and square glitter of varying sizes in a shimmering base (although any shimmer in the polish base wasn't readily apparent on my nails). I originally tried to wear this polish on its own, but after 4 coats I realized I wasn't going to get the look I was hoping for, as I hadn't realized that the base color of Snow Angel is essentially clear. I removed the manicure and started over, prepping my nails with 2 coats of OPI Time-Less Is More (a clean, pretty white jelly that reads slightly pink on me) before adding 1 coat of Snow Angel. The result? Ethereal perfection! It reminds me of sparkling frost.

Rescue Beauty Lounge No More War vs. MAC Dry Martini: Comparison Swatch Picture and Review

2011-08-19T09:53:00.001-04:00

On Monday, I posted a picture of olive-green-brown RBL No More War. Another shade in the same general color family (albeit a much darker and browner version) is MAC Dry Martini, which was released as part of the Nail Trend FW09 Jin Soon collection (along with Cool Reserve, Dance All Night, For Fun, Rich Dark Delicious, and Beyond Jealous… none of which I bought). The marked difference between the two polishes can hopefully be seen in the following comparison shot:

In the picture above, RBL No More War is on my index and ring fingers, while MAC Dry Martini is on my middle finger and pinky.

I discuss the qualities of No More War in Wednesday's post. As for Dry Martini, it was my first MAC polish, and going in I was a bit worried as I'd heard bad things about the application of MAC polishes. However, Dry Martini was creamy, even, and richly pigmented (the swatch you see is two coats), and on top of that I loved the brush! It made for easy, neat application

OPI Tasmanian Devil Made Me Do It: Swatch Picture and Review

2011-08-18T09:38:00.002-04:00

From the OPI Australia collection:

Bright, super-orange-toned red! Easy application and nice pigmentation, but for orange-toned reds my heart belongs to OPI Monsooner or Later.

Rescue Beauty Lounge No More War: Swatch Picture and Review

2011-08-17T10:52:00.001-04:00

Some people love browned olive green shades; others hate them. Regardless of which side of the spectrum you fall on, these colors are certainly unusual.

RBL No More War was released as part of RBL's Fall/Winter 2008 collection, one of the very first polish collections I fell in love with. I remember loving the juxtaposing of more traditional shades like dirty pink Plie and plum-brown Bruised with less traditional colors like dark blue-green Teal and of course, No More War. RBL used to have a salon right by my apartment and I fought with myself for weeks, trying to justify the purchase of such expensive polish, before I finally made my way in and bought Teal. Plie, Bruised, and No More War came later, in one of RBL's famed 50% off sales, but eventually they found their way into my Helmer too!

This polish was a pleasure to apply, smooth and opaque in 2 coats. I have to say that I don't love this particular color against my skin tone (although I'll bet it looks darker and therefore better on pale skin), but I do like deeper versions of the shade. Stay tuned for a comparison with MAC Dry Martini, which I much prefer!

OPI Monsooner or Later: Swatch Picture and Review

2011-08-16T10:41:00.001-04:00

I think this is my very favorite red creme. RBL Bangin' and OPI Girls Just Want To Play are up there, but at the end of the day my tan skin makes me prefer my reds orange-toned.

Super bright (maybe too bright for some, but perfect for me), warm-toned, and a dream to apply! What more could I want?

OPI Gift of Gold: Swatch Picture and Review

2011-08-15T09:50:00.006-04:00

This was one of Ulta's OPI holiday exclusives from last year. I don't have an Ulta anywhere near me, so my friend Dia hooked me up!

OBSESSED. A super-sparkly mix of bright gold and darker gold glitter, with some red-copper glitter speckled in! What I love about this glitter is how opaque it was for glitter in a clear base (this swatch is just two coats) and how brilliantly it twinkled in the light. My pic unfortunately looks a bit dull and bumpy, but my pinky gives a hint of this polish's true glassy gleam.

Sunday Link Roundup! Lynnderella Halloween Glitter, Snakeskin Nails, and More!

2011-08-14T10:21:00.011-04:00

Here are some of my favorite posts from the polish blogosphere over the past week!

Mary at Body and Soul Beauty has a swatch of Lynnderella Cauldron Drippings, a super-glittery and unique member of the Early Halloween collection! I love Lynnderella polishes so hard, and Lynn is a total sweetheart!
Piff at Polish or Perish actually makes Lippmann Funky Chunky look good! Like glossy black snakeskin!
Jen at The PolishAholic has swatches of the SpaRitual Fall 2011 Wilde Collection, and I'm LOVING Sacred Ground! Glass-flecked gray with hints of gold and lavender! Girls who like straight shimmer might enjoy the other colors as well.
Scrangie has the scoop on the new Sally Hansen Salon Effects (Sally Hansen's line of full-nail stickers/appliques with different designs) that will be released for Halloween 2011. Some of them are great - I'm particularly loving the Spun For You spiderweb design!
ALU has the first swatch I've seen from Essie Cocktail Bling - dusty blue-green School of Hard Rocks - and I'm loving it!

Streetwear Mrs. Claus: Swatch Picture and Review

2011-08-13T10:56:00.003-04:00

Rounding out the last of my collection of Streetwear holiday polishes (the others I have are Elf, Grinch, and Merry), here's Streetwear Mrs. Claus!

I was lucky enough to stumble across Mrs. Claus in a dusty with some friends last year. It's a fairly uncommon holiday Streetwear which I'd been hunting for for a while, so I was giddy when it turned up in one of my little bags of 4-for-$1 polishes! Since Mrs. Claus is a jelly, I used 3 coats to get it completely even and was really pleased with the result. So shiny!

Lynnderella Mercurial: Swatch Pictures and Review

2011-08-12T11:04:00.005-04:00

Lynnderella's beautiful polish creations have been popular on the nail board for some time, but until recently, the only way to come by them was to have them gifted to you by the maker herself. Last month, however, Lynnderella began selling her polishes in order to give more people access, which I how I came to own the beautiful Mercurial, part of the First Edition collection!

Mercurial is a fabulously complex glitter: it begins with a smokey gray jelly base, which is packed full of silver shimmer, fine lavender glitter, small lavender hex glitter, small silver square glitter, and medium silver hex glitter, all topped off with a little bit of medium black square glitter!

For the swatch pictures above, I used 3 coats of Mercurial. Because of Mercurial's tinted base and heavy glitter saturation, this polish can be worn alone fairly easily, but I think next time I would take my friend Janice's advice to layer 2 coats over Mercurial over a shimmery charcoal base color, partly to conserve this rare polish and partly to achieve evenness more easily.

I'm absolutely in love with Mercurial - it's uber-glittery without feeling childish, as its charcoal color gives it a bit of an edge. It reminds me of sequined, sparkly armor! Another amazing success by Lynnderella!

Essie Sexy Divide - Swatch Picture and Review

2011-08-11T10:22:00.004-04:00

I wore this rich purple shimmer as a base under Illamasqua Boo! in an earlier post:

Sexy Divide (what does that name even mean?) is vibrant and pigmented, reaching opacity in 2 easy coats. If you like purple shimmers, this is a classic!

Zoya Tiffany, OPI Silver Shatter, and Sephora by OPI Traffic Stopper Copper: Swatch Pictures and Review

2011-08-10T11:22:00.001-04:00

The other day, I was in the mood for a blingy manicure, so I came up with this!

I began by applying 2 coats of Zoya Tiffany, a peach-copper foil that was released with Zoya's Fire & Ice Collection. Tiffany applied pretty well; the foil particles made it less smooth to apply than say, a creme, but overall the polish had a good texture.

Next, I applied 1 coat of OPI Silver Shatter. This was my first time using Silver Shatter (or any shimmery crackle polish, for that matter) and it took me a few nails to get the application right. In order to make sure that the polish cracked well and my base color showed through, I was doing pretty thin coats of Silver Shatter, but unfortunately they were too thin to crack properly. Once I started using slightly thicker coats, however, the polish "shattered" well.

I really liked that Silver Shatter was more of a foil than a straight shimmer, and I'm looking forward to using it over other polishes (I think it would make for a pretty look over dusty pastels, similar to those in the OPI Pirates of the Caribbean collection it was released with). The only downside to this polish is that it has a tendency to get goopy pretty quickly when it's exposed to air, so if you wipe off your brush on the bottle neck like many of us do, you'll probably need to wipe the bottle neck down with remover before you put the polish away.

Finally, I topped the whole manicure off with 2 coats of Sephora by OPI Traffic Stopper Copper, which I bought after seeing kittytokaren's beautiful manicure of TSC over a nude. Traffic Stopper Copper features both small copper glitter and larger, hexagonal copper glitter in a clear base. The glitter in TSC isn't too densely packed, which makes it perfect for layering, and I though it providing a great finishing touch to this shiny silver and copper mani!

BB Couture Ashes: Swatch Picture and Review

2011-08-09T09:59:00.002-04:00

I picked up BB Couture Ashes (from the Saints of Ruin collection), even though it's not my typical shade, because I thought it looked and sounded interesting based on Vampy Varnish's review. Unfortunately, the color I received doesn't look quite like I was expecting to get!

What do you think? To me it looks like a pretty straightforward charcoal shimmer, with a different base color from what I expected and none of the multicolored shimmer I was hoping for. I feel like I got a completely different polish! It applied well and was opaque in two coats, but it's not as unique as I thought it was going to be.

Edit: I've since done a bit of investigating and it really looks like my polish is so different from many of the other ones I'm seeing out there. (Examples: 1 2) I take care to make sure my pictures are accurate to what I see on my nails in real life, so I'm wondering if different lighting may have played a role (I take my pictures in natural light) or perhaps skin tone.

BB Couture Bonnie: Swatch Pictures and Review

2011-08-08T11:15:00.002-04:00

BBC Bonnie is a rich green jelly with lots of eye-catching glitter! This beauty is from the Infamous Lovers collection:

Since BBC Bonnie is glitter in a jelly base, it required the expected three coats for full color and opacity. The application was smooth, and with topcoat, Bonnie easily acquired an even, glossy finish. So vivid and sparkly!

Sunday Link Roundup! Festival Glitters, Galaxy Glitters, Cosmoprof, and more!

2011-08-07T11:39:00.007-04:00

Here are some of my favorite posts from the polish blogosphere over the past week!

Karen posts pics of two gorgeous Nails Inc. glitters, Reading and Glastonbury. Now I want both!
Vampy Varnish offers some helpful tips on polish/beauty blogging. She convinced me to open my Twitter up again; click here to follow me!
O. M. G. !!!!! Steffels' amazing pics of the glittery Tony Moly Galaxy collection sent me running straight to eBay! I wound up springing for all of the polishes except Earth (and I'm now wishing I'd bought that one too)... oops.
The Polishaholic has the scoop on some awesome new upcoming nail polish collections, as seen at Cosmoprof! Check out the pics from Day 1 and Day 2. I've got my eye on sooo many things now, especially China Glaze's Eye Candy collection and Essie's Cocktail Bling collection!
Temptalia has pics of some beautiful upcoming Orlys as seen at Cosmoprof, including the reported Merry Midnight dupe from the Birds of a Feather collection as well as the new Mineral FX collection. If the success of the Cosmic FX collection was any indication, these polishes are going to be a hit!

Now that I've started doing this link roundup, hopefully I can stop bugging my IRL friends with random pictures of nail polish. *friends breathe collective sigh of relief* Stay tuned!

Streetwear Merry: Swatch Picture and Review

2011-08-06T11:13:00.002-04:00

In my opinion, this is one of the less exciting SW holiday polishes:

Pinkish-red shimmer with a watery formula? Do not want. I bought it to help round out my collection of Streetwear holiday polishes (so far I have Merry, Mrs. Claus, Grinch, and Elf) but as I'm moving away from being a collector and more towards being a minimalist in all aspects of my life, I think I'm getting ready to give this guy a new home.

Illamasqua Boo over Essie Sexy Divide: Swatch Pictures and Review

2011-08-05T11:59:00.009-04:00

Finding Illamasqua Boo was such an ordeal for me... it wasn't officially being sold in the US (and I was loath to pay hefty international shipping fees from the Illamasqua website), but I'd heard rumors of a few mislabeled bottles somehow making their way to Sephora! So one freezing New York winter day, just before Christmas, I put on my wool cape (no, really) and set off up the island of Manhattan, on a quest to hit every Sephora in my path. And after half a dozen stops, pausing to hurriedly open up every bottle of "Collide" at each one, I struck gold! One "Collide" was actually "Boo"!

Since Boo is glitter in a clear base, I layered it over Essie Sexy Divide in these photos.

Sadly, my tale has a rather disappointing end: after all that hunting, it turns out I didn't even really like Boo on my nails that much, and I swapped it away to a better home. Recent nailboarders have had it a bit easier in their quest for Boo, as the Holiday 2009 Boo/Baptiste duo recently went on sale on the Illamasqua website for just £10! It appears to be sold out now, but there's always swapping...

streetwear elf: swatch picture and review

2010-12-18T09:33:00.008-05:00

here's a swatch of one of my very favorite streetwears... elf!

and a close-up to highlight the shimmer:

i love a murky dark green... you all know that normally i don't enjoy shimmer, but for some reason i like elf. a limited-edition holiday polish long since discontinued, elf is vhtf, so i feel quite lucky to have scored this beauty!

looking forward to the day ahead - first, a playdate with an old friend (who i haven't seen in months after years of seeing him nearly every day), followed by a holiday party/made-it-through-the-semester celebration with the other members of my program. and of course, keeping my fingers crossed about the DREAM act!

streetwear grinch: swatch picture and review

2010-12-11T13:38:00.002-05:00

i was lucky enough to find a few christmas streetwears earlier this year, so i thought i'd post them in these weeks leading up to the holidays!

sw grinch is a beautiful fine green glitter that i'm thrilled to own! on my middle and pinky fingers two coats of grinch are layered over three coats of streetwear mrs. claus, and on my index and ring fingers i'm wearing four coats (plus a couple of touch-ups) of grinch on its own. so festive!

a note: grinch is vvvhtf, but according to karen of pretty random (who's a thousand times more knowledgeable about older polishes than i could ever hope to be), icing lucky charm is a perfect dupe!

swatch: lippmann across the universe

2010-12-06T09:45:00.004-05:00

i'm scheduling this post for monday morning, but right now it's sunday night and i'm frantically finishing a giant research & practice project, so i'll let the polish speak for itself:

and a close-up:

three coats of this gorgeous dark blue jelly with blue regular glitter, blue hexagonal glitter, and green hexagonal glitter.

boy says: "embedded hexagonal glitters. marvelous."

swatch: color club high society

2010-12-02T11:50:00.001-05:00

wow, talk about a polish that looks really different against different skin tones... compare how it looks on me (tan and warm-toned) to how it looks on scrangie (pale and cool-toned)! this is a shade that looks much better on light skin, imo.

please excuse the boosh remnants still stuck in my cuticles! i wore this np, from color club's rebel debutante collection, a few days ago to start the week off with a work-appropriate shade. application was smooth and opaque in two coats.

boy says: "i had a packard bell legend computer in 1994. it was this exact color."

swatch: nars zulu

2010-11-30T14:05:00.000-05:00

vvvvvhtf and highly coveted for years, nars zulu was rereleased a couple of months ago - and i was thrilled to get my hands on this piece of nail polish history!

i'd heard that zulu was a streaky pita to apply, but luckily the (reformulated) new version wasn't bad at all. i applied three coats for the mani above and found that overall, the application of the polish was fine and its appearance was quite even. i'll admit, though, that i did preemptively wait a bit longer than i usually do between coats, just to ward off any potential issues. on the one finger where i tried to touch up a nail that had started to dry but wasn't fully set, the polish did pull away a bit, leaving a bald spot (that luckily was easily fixed).

one other thing potential buyers/swappers should be aware of - as far as i can tell, the square caps on nars polish bottles do not pull off, unlike the caps on illamasqua or chanel bottles. this doesn't get in the way of application too much, but just a heads-up.

while i like zulu a lot, i'm still not a jelly convert... at the end of the day, while i do appreciate zulu's glassy finish, i'd still prefer a dark green creme (like sephora by opi dark room or zoya envy).

boy says: "look at the sloppy application on your pinky!" :(

swatch: zoya charla

2010-11-29T12:15:00.005-05:00

since i hated that last mani so much, how about i now post a mani i love:

zoya charla is probably my favorite of this past summer's sparkle collection (although ivanka is a close second). so sparkly and vivid (and a bit more green) irl! i actually haven't worn this since the summer, as in my opinion this color and finish don't go well with the more professional attire and fairly subdued hues i sport during the school year (i know there are others who disagree and wear any nail polish with any outfit, but this is what works for me and my style). but i loved this color when i wore it a few months ago and can't wait for the warmer months (with their accompanying bright colors and bold prints) to roll around again so that i can break this shade out once more! this picture is of three coats.

boy says: "zoya seems to make good nail polish." direct quote, i kid you not.

swatch: opi the show must go on!

2010-11-27T08:38:00.007-05:00

the day after thanksgiving i wore opi the show must go on!, which quite frankly, i hated... screamingly bright pink-orange foil is so not my scene:

this polish applied smoothly (two coats are shown above), and i know many people love this shade, but again, the color really just isn't for me. i'm actually somewhat relieved, as i bought mac bad fairy right when it was released but never wore it because i was disappointed by the murky/muddy quality it had. at the same time, however, i was hesitant to jettison something so highly coveted without even a cursory swatch. but now i can safely assume that i won't like bad fairy either and can feel comfortable offloading it!

boy says: "that looks finely textured, like pink aluminum foil."

thanksgiving notd/swatch: nubar raspberry truffle + finger paints holly good time

2010-11-26T09:49:00.007-05:00

hi everyone! sorry for the extended absence but my new job and grad school are keeping me very busy (not to mention far from my camera during the daylight hours!). i have a couple of days off for thanksgiving, though, so i thought i'd post pics of the mani i wore for the holiday:

this is two coats of nubar raspberry truffle topped with one coat of fp holly good time (courtesy of my dear friend michelle, since we don't have sally's here!). i was really impressed by the smooth application of the nubar as well as how dense the glitter was in the fp. in fact, my original intention was to do a holly good time gradient over raspberry truffle, but i had to abandon that idea once i realized the glitter in holly good time was offering far too good of coverage for that to work. it's hard to tell in this picture, but holly good time is also super sparkly, and i look forward to wearing it again (perhaps layered over a different polish, perhaps solo) closer to christmas.

boy says: "you can't focus your eyes on it. it's just too much."

hope all of you who celebrate had a nice thanksgiving!

streetwear toad: swatch picture and review

2010-05-29T11:32:00.002-04:00

this is my favorite version of sw toad... beautiful olive green shimmer:

this polish is fairly thin and watery and tends toward bald spots, so i did four coats to get this evenly opaque. worth it, though! thanks to my sweet friend amy for hooking me up with this pretty!

american apparel summer 2010 swatches part 1: butter, malibu green

2010-05-21T14:56:00.005-04:00

hi everyone! sorry for my absence the past couple of days... we've hardly had any sun around here, which makes photographing polishes no fun! this morning, however, we had some nice weather, so i thought it would be a great time to swatch a couple of the latest offerings from american apparel.

as i've posted before, being a die-hard creme lover i'm a big fan of smerican apparel's range of polishes, so i was thrilled to hear that this summer, they were expanding their line to include five new colors: butter, california trooper, l'esprit, malibu green, and summer peach.

i had mixed feelings about butter - i loved the color, a gorgeous warm soft yellow, but i did have issues with the application:

yellows are notoriously difficult to apply, and butter wasn't particularly awful in that respect; it was both thick and runny, and somewhat streaky as well, but most people could probably get it to work in three thick coats (since i didn't figure this out through midway through my application, i used four regular coats for the swatch above). however, the american apparel brush is designed in such a way that the stem retains a lot of polish even if you wipe off your brush well, causing drips and mess if you aren't careful. thus, in order to have a controlled, neat manicure, you have to wipe off the brush and stem so thoroughly that you simply don't have enough polish left to do properly thick coats. if you're able to figure out how to apply butter in a way that works for you, though, the color is very pretty.

malibu green on the other hand, had an awesome formula, and i really liked the color as well:

(please note that the polish is brighter and more saturated irl.) this had the thin, super-pigmented formula that i love and think of as being typical of american apparel's polish! with all my love of crazy polish i've never really ventured into bright blues and greens, so i was surprised by how much i loved this shade... i actually wound up wearing it for three days! the formula of this polish was excellent - smooth and very easy to work with - and it was opaque in two thin coats. malibu green makes a great pop of color against the blacks and neutrals i insist on wearing even throughout the summer, and i'm looking forward to breaking it out again.

i should have the rest of the american apparel summer colors (california trooper, l'esprit, and summer peach) swatched and posted for you on monday... i'll update this post with a link once that's done. happy weekend!

disclosure: the products in this post were sent to me by american apparel for consideration

streetwear midnight and streetwear fx flash (blue version): swatch pictures and review

2010-05-15T14:05:00.005-04:00

for today installment of streetwear saturdays, i started with three coats of sw midnight, a glowy dark blue shimmer:

i'm not really a fan of blue shimmers (well, any shimmers, but blue shimmers in particular), so i decided to top this mani with a little glitter to make it more my style. here's sw midnight with one coat of sw fx flash (the blue version) on top:

full disclosure: i got this idea from a gorgeous mani done by another np lover... afraid i can't take credit for it! while i like the blue version of fx flash well enough, it's the green/chameleon version that i really love. for pics of that polish, please check out my posts here and here.

swatch: china glaze electric lilac

2010-05-14T15:28:00.003-04:00

i'm still wearing opi girls just want to play from yesterday, so here's a polish i swatched recently - chg electric lilac:

electric lilac is quite sheer and i didn't feel like building it up to opacity, so for this picture i put two coats over nails inc. basil street (a beige-nude creme). the polish was pretty goopy, so i was glad i made the decision to not struggle through four coats of it.

happy friday! hope you all have a nice weekend. :)

swatch: opi girls just want to play

2010-05-13T15:23:00.003-04:00

i love this! from the 2008 holiday in toyland collection:

girls just want to play is brighter and more pink-toned irl and has a totally fabulous formula (two coats seen above). i can see myself wearing this again and again!

swatch: nails inc. brook street

2010-05-12T17:24:00.004-04:00

i've been trying to photograph my notd, opi ogre-the-top blue, for the past two days now with no luck - it's been so overcast here that i don't have enough light to get a color-accurate pic. so here's an notd from last week instead, nails inc. brook street:

this is a very pretty pink-toned coral... i love it! it reminds me a bit of rbl coral, but the two polishes certainly aren't identical. i paired brook street with a fluorescent yellow dress, brown chunky platform sandals, and a bright red pedi. :) three coats.

swatch: nails inc. hollywood

2010-05-11T13:30:00.002-04:00

fabulous candy pink!

unfortunately, the application of this shade wasn't quite so fabulous - it was somewhat streaky and patchy, requiring me to apply it thickly to get it even in three coats. these application issues surprised me, as nails inc. polishes tend to have a consistently good formula. i love the color, though, so i can definitely see myself reaching for hollywood again... just not when i'm in a rush or need an easy mani!

comparison swatch: opi mrs. o'leary's bbq and opi vampire state building

2010-05-10T16:01:00.000-04:00

opi mrs. o'leary's bbq is widely reputed to be a dupe for the htf opi vampire state building. in my opinion, however (and unfortunately for those of you seeking a more easily accessible alternative to vampire state building), the two polishes aren't actually identical.

in the following photos, i have vampire state building on my index (leftmost) and ring fingers and mrs. o'leary's bbq on my middle and pinky (rightmost) fingers. i did three coats of each polish, although mrs. o'leary's bbq (owner of one of my favorite polish abbreviations ever, "molbbq") only needs two if you let it dry a bit longer than i did.

vampire state building and mrs. o'leary's bbq have completely different undertones, and the difference between the polishes is visible in regular natural light. vampire state building's undertones are brown, while those of mrs. o'leary's bbq are purple. the two shades are closer on the nail than in the bottle, though.

vampire state building and opi a man in every port-ugal look closer in the bottle than vampire state building and mrs. o'leary's bbq do (leaving aside a man in every port-ugal's subtle shimmer); i'll comp them at some point.

here's a lighter (albeit slightly washed out) pic to better show the different tones of the two polishes:

btw, for those of you who are interested, i posted a full mani with molbbq here.

swatch: opi miami beet

2010-05-10T10:37:00.002-04:00

when changing my polish yesterday afternoon, i had my roommate pick my mani. she suggested a "bright, red-toned purple," and the closest thing i had in my untrieds was opi miami beet!

here it is in the sun:

and since this polish darkens considerably in dimmer lighting, here it is in regular natural light (it's darker still indoors):

when i was placing the etailer order in which i got miami beet, i idly wondered to myself how i'd managed to do without this shade for so long, considering the number of people who rave about it. once the polish had arrived and i had unpacked it, though, i remembered why i'd avoided picking it up in the past - it's reputed to be a dupe for zoya moxie, which i already own. the two polishes do look slightly different in the bottles, so i'll need to do a comp at some point to figure out their precise similarities and differences.

by the way, with regard to formula miami beet is like the vast majority of the opi cremes i own - pigmented, smooth, and opaque and two coats.

swatch: opi dazzled by gold

2010-05-09T15:13:00.009-04:00

dazzled by gold was an ulta exclusive during last year's holiday season. i was luckily able to score this polish through a swap, as there's no ulta here. this is my very first real gold polish (i.e. one that isn't a glitter topcoat)!

i'm a big fan of chunky, over-the-top rings and bracelets, but yesterday i thought i'd wear the bling on my nails for a change! i wasn't a huge fan of this polish at first, but it grew on me, and by the end of the evening i couldn't stop admiring my nails. btw, i think this would look totally striking on someone with a darker skin tone!

dazzled by gold does go on quite sheer at first, but as you build up the layers the big shimmer particles come together to create an awesome foily finish. this polish was pretty much opaque in three coats, but i did four just to make sure any bald spots were fully covered.

p.s. happy mother's day to all you moms out there, especially mine! ♥

streetwear moody: swatch picture and review

2010-05-08T10:42:00.003-04:00

i was lucky enough to find this vhtf polish in a dusty just last week!

this is often referred to as the "creme" version of moody (sometimes spelled "mmoody"), but this polish isn't actually a pure creme. instead, it features a subtle but still visible shimmer. this shimmer may be a bit difficult to detect in this picture, however, because this polish reacted badly to the seche vite topcoat i applied over it, resulting in lots of small bubbles and other texture issues. apologies! btw, this swatch is of three coats of moody.

the other (and much more common) version of moody that i own isn't opaque, isn't creme-like, and isn't turquoise/teal; instead, it's a very sheer blue shimmer. at first i thought i'd never wear it, but after seeing emalc's pic of this sheer version of moody layered over black, i'm starting to think i should at least give that layered look a chance.

swatch: nails inc. upper street

2010-05-07T08:35:00.000-04:00

a very pretty jelly-ish aqua shade:

when i first started to apply upper street, i was concerned that it would need several coats for opacity (and i was feeling lazy that day); luckily, it became even with the addition of a second coat. a comp with chg flyin' high and chg shower together is in the works!

swatch: nails inc. belgrave place

2010-05-06T09:43:00.000-04:00

nails inc. belgrave place (not to be confused with nails inc. belgrave square, a shimmery pink) is amazing! it's a beautiful, vivid, super-glossy blurple jelly:

this polish totally, totally rules. depending on the lighting conditions, it ranges from a purple with strong blue undertones to a deep, rich blue to a shiny, gorgeous vampy. (my pic might be a bit too blue in some browsers; sorry about that!) a particularly great thing about belgrave place is that while it's a jelly, it doesn't come along with the annoying side effect of most jellies: vnl (visible nail line). instead, it was opaque in three coats.

swatch: opi paint my moji-toes red

2010-05-05T10:26:00.004-04:00

i got this on sale for $1.99 at ricky's... hurray!

two coats. this polish was an absolute dream to apply - it glided on soooo smoothly. the color of this photo unfortunately varies a bit from browser to browser, so if it looks salmon or quite muted to you please know that that isn't an accurate representation. irl, paint my moji-toes red is a pink-red that's quite vibrant.

swatch: nails inc. draycott pl.

2010-05-04T09:34:00.001-04:00

we had such summery weather here in new york this past weekend that i decided it was time to break out this fabulously juicy orange!

draycott pl. is my new favorite orange - it's so vivid and so pigmented. i wore it with this dress to wander around the city on a hot saturday afternoon, eating raspberry sorbet and idling in union square park... totally freaking awesome. two coats.

swatch: chanel illusion d'or over american apparel hassid

2010-04-28T15:34:00.004-04:00

when the chanel noir et or paris-shanghai polishes (black velvet, gold lamé, and illusion d'or) first went up on the chanel website, i was tempted by them but ultimately decided not to purchase any. once they appeared to have sold out, however, i felt a momentary panic... maybe i did want them after all, and now they were gone forever, never to be seen anywhere again except for on ebay for $300+! (lest my male friends who read this blog think i'm being hyperbolic, that's what really happened with the last chanel limited edition nail polish, jade - it now sells for several hundred dollars.) so when i saw the polishes back up on the chanel site, i clicked "purchase" without letting myself think twice.

i ultimately wound up purchasing both black velvet (mostly for the packaging, not gonna lie) and illusion d'or. since black velvet can't be worn with topcoat and i'm a slave to my quick-dry, i'll be waiting to wear that one 'til i have a nice chunk of free time; illusion d'or, however, i put on the day after it arrived.

first, a bottle pic:

and a close-up of the polish in its bottle (those little purple iridescent pieces are the coolest thing about this polish, imo):

and now for some mani pics! i put one coat of illusion d'or over american apparel hassid, a fabulously pigmented black that works great for layering! here's the result in overcast light:

in regular natural light:

and finally, in bright sunlight so that you can see how dense yet fine the glitter is:

also, here's a close-up so that you can see the individual glitter particles better. please excuse the leftover red polish on my nail!

all in all, i think illusion d'or is quite pretty. it's still growing on me - i normally prefer cremes or in-your-face bling - but i do like it, especially when the purple bits catch the light.

swatch: opi cajun shrimp

2010-04-27T14:30:00.004-04:00

this is my all-time favorite nail polish! my bottle's like... one-third gone, which is a huge deal considering the absurd number of polishes i own.

(some browsers wash this pic out, apologies!)

i don't even know how to describe the color... i hesitate to call it a coral because it's so red, but i think that's technically what it is. i just think of it as an amazing, super-vivid blend of red, orange, and pink, which i especially love in the summer. the application is great too - two easy, pigmented coats, and you're good to go.

rescue beauty lounge grunge and streetwear black widow: swatch pictures and review

2010-04-24T08:08:00.005-04:00

recently, i was given a tip as to where i could find a treasure trove of old revlon streetwears, and this was one of the long-discontinued and htf polishes i scored! rbl grunge looked totally wack on me on its own (i'll do a full post on it soon, but in a nutshell: brown girls beware!), but i thought its fairly nude/neutral color would make a good base for black widow:

my inspiration was a manicure done by my friend eve, in which she layered black widow over a nude polish to create the effect of a nude slip dress topped with a black mesh, lace, and sequined overlay. her mani was far superior to mine though - i did 3 or 4 coats of the sw, but maybe i should have done even more!

here's a close-up shot of black widow so you can see all the various kinds of glitter it contains: black regular glitter, silver regular glitter, and black bar glitter:

swatch: opi mrs. o'leary's bbq

2010-04-20T14:57:00.006-04:00

totally gorgeous, easy to apply, and opaque in two coats. although the name is a little odd... i told my friend i was wearing "mrs. o'leary's bbq" and his response was "wtf? you're wearing a nail polish inspired by the great chicago fire?"

molbbq is reputed to be a dupe for the htf opi vampire state building... i purchased the former and then was actually able to get my hands on vsb just a couple of weeks later. a comp post is in the works!

update: i've posted a comparison between opi mrs. o'leary's bbq and opi vampire state building here.

comparison swatch: rescue beauty lounge bangin' and opi red my fortune cookie

2010-04-19T18:43:00.002-04:00

if you missed the recent rbl surf collection pre-sale or didn't want to shell out the big bucks for those polishes, you're in luck... because opi red my fortune cookie is pretty much a perfect dupe for rbl bangin'.

in this photo, i have bangin' on my index (leftmost) and ring fingers and red my fortune cookie on my middle and pinky (rightmost) fingers. please note that some browsers distort colors and that rmfc and bangin' are both bright warm reds... neither is orange at all irl.

in terms of color: in indoor/dim lighting, these two polishes are perfect matches. in bright lighting, bangin' appears to be just a hair more vividly red than red my fortune cookie, but i had to really look to make out this tiny difference.

in terms of formula/application: i would describe the formula of red my fortune cookie as great, and the formula of bangin' as absolutely perfect. both of these polishes went on very smoothly and had great pigmentation (requiring two coats for total opacity), but the formula of bangin' is just… sooooo unbelievably buttery smooth.

swatch: china glaze flyin' high

2010-04-16T11:58:00.004-04:00

a beautiful bright aqua from the recent up & away collection! much more muted in firefox than it is irl:

flyin' high was quite pigmented and applied fairly evenly in 2 coats. the application of this polish was pretty good (although china glaze's brush is too long and skinny for my taste), but i did have an issue with this shade's drying time.

i used my usual bc/tc combination of barielle hydrating ridge filler and poshe for this mani; with these products, i'm usually functional about ten minutes after i finish polishing, as long as i'm careful. i found, however, that flyin' high remained wet much longer than my other manicures typically do. in fact, when i went to grab something out of my makeup bag about half an hour after finishing my mani, i came away with several smudges and deep gouges in my polish. boo! the color is so great, though, that i almost don't care.

swatch: opi that's hot! pink

2010-04-14T12:22:00.002-04:00

earlier this week, i decided i wanted a bright pink mani to match the warm weather we were having and the flowered dress i was wearing:

opi that's hot! pink is a very bright blue-toned pink - normally i stay away from such colors because of my warm undertones, but i think the brightness of this shade makes it work even on my yellow-toned skin. this polish is more sheer than most of my other opi cremes (which generally go on well for me in two coats), but it was pretty much opaque in three coats and its application was otherwise good. the accuracy of this photograph is off in some browsers, so please note that that's hot! pink is an *extremely* vivid/saturated pink irl.

swatch: opi red my fortune cookie

2010-04-13T11:22:00.001-04:00

here's another polish i picked up from opi's recent hong kong collection - red my fortune cookie:

i love warm, bright reds, so rmfc is a great addition to my collection (please note that while this color looks orange-toned in some browsers, that isn't accurate). its application is good as well: not only is it thin yet pigmented enough to be opaque in two coats, but it also has opi's awesome pro-wide brush, which helps me to do a neat mani in just a few minutes.

this polish is also a nearly perfect dupe for rbl bangin' - i'll post a comparison later.

rescue beauty lounge surf collection swatches: 360, bangin', and diddy mow

2010-04-05T22:43:00.008-04:00

what better way to come back from my little blogging break than with the latest collection from my absolute favorite polish brand, rescue beauty lounge? the spring/summer surf collection is now available again for pre-order through this wednesday, april 7, so i thought i'd share my swatches for those of you who are debating whether or not to take the plunge on these.

by the way, the formula on all of these polishes is absolutely perfect. creamy, smooth, buttery, pigmented... exactly what i expect from rbl. each of these polishes was close to opaque in one coat and was perfect in two.

diddy mow is a completely unique and seriously cool blend of gray and green. i can see myself reaching for this polish again and again and again come fall:

here's a close-up of diddy mow to show its secret shimmer:

360 is a muted medium aqua that's very pretty. it's slightly darker than what i'd normally consider a summery color, but it works:

the secret shimmer in 360 is slightly stronger than the secret shimmer in diddy mow - here's a close-up:

and finally, bangin' is an amazingly bright warm red creme and my current notd. i know many are passing on this color because it seems dupey, but i consider bangin' to be the ultimate, most beautifully pigmented version of my favorite polish color. some browsers are doing funny things to this pic, so please know that this is pure red, not orange at all:

okay, basketball needs my attention again. gordon hayward is so boyishly adorable; i want to fix him a grilled cheese sandwich or something. maybe bring him a glass of chocolate milk.

swatch: bb couture poison ivy

2010-03-26T17:01:00.006-04:00

hi everyone, sorry for my absence from the blog lately! the past couple of weeks have been crazy-busy, but hopefully i can get back into the posting groove again smoothly! so without further ado, here's a green notd from last week, bb couture poison ivy:

the formula on this is a tiny bit thick, but i found that worked to my advantage as i was in a rush to get out the door for my st. patrick's day plans and wanted something with serious coverage. and poison ivy didn't disappoint, as it was opaque in two quick coats.

by the way, i don't normally comment on any nail polish's wear time because i change my mani so frequently, but i recall being very impressed with the lasting power of this polish. i kept this mani on for four days last week, and even though i'm seriously hard on my hands, i didn't get even the tiniest chip.

the fact that i was able to keep this mani on for so long when i normally have to change my polish every day out of boredom is also a comment on the quality of the color. poison ivy is a vibrant green creme - brighter in the sunlight (for example, in the picture above) and darker indoors - and i really enjoyed having it on my nails.

and also, for those of you who are coming here from getcha nails did, welcome! thank you brooke for mentioning my little blog!

swatch: american apparel downtown la + china glaze medallion

2010-03-15T13:33:00.001-04:00

after i got bored with my aa downtown la mani, i topped it with chg medallion (fine gold glitter and larger holographic glitter in a clear base) to give it a fresh look. please keep in mind that these photos were taken right when i woke up and in the middle of a storm… in other words, not in the best lighting conditions. i can only imagine how blingy this manicure would be in full sunlight!

and here's a blurred close-up to show how glittery and fun this look is:

love! i needed something sparkly to cheer myself up in this gross weather, and this fit the bill perfectly. for the base color, i used two coats of downtown la, and for the glitter effect i used one coat of medallion on my ring and pinky fingers and two coats on my index and middle fingers. just a warning, medallion is a pain to remove, but i'm sure the foil method would get it off quickly and painlessly!

swatch: rescue beauty lounge chinoise

2010-03-14T08:02:00.000-04:00

i'm planning on posting today's notd (american apparel downtown la) in the next installment of my swatches/reviews of the aa line of polishes, so for now here's a picture of what in my mind is a somewhat similar red creme - rbl chinoise. please note that the color accuracy of this photo varies from browser to browser - for your reference, chinoise is a cherry red with no orange tones at all.

this polish had smooth application and was opaque in two coats, but for some reason i'm not wowed. first, i think i prefer the creamier, super-pigmented rbl colors - shades like teal, mismas, and orbis non sufficit. second, i think opi does many red cremes that are every bit as good as this polish but come with a much lower price tag. and finally, i just don't think cherry red is my preferred shade of red polish, especially for my skin tone. i like for my red polishes to really pop, and so i gravitate toward uber-bright reds with orange undertones - for example, opi monsooner or later.

bloom bianca + streetwear fx flash: swatch pictures and review

2010-03-13T01:28:00.008-05:00

i'm lucky enough to have some gorgeous revlon streetwears in my collection, thanks to a great dusty where i live as well as some generous friends. for some reason, though, i don't break out my streetwears as much as i should, so i'm starting a new feature on my blog to encourage me to swatch and wear my sw collection, one polish at a time. so welcome to streetwear saturdays!

after i got bored with yesterday's bloom bianca mani, i decided to layer one coat of streetwear fx flash (the green/chameleon/mermaid version) on top of it. here's fx flash in the bottle:

and here are some pics of the resultant mani. unfortunately these pictures don't do the manicure justice at all - in real life most of the colors you see in these pictures (the teal, the light green, and the yellow/gold, although not the blue) are much more vivid, and there's also a very strong copper tone to the glitter in certain lights.

i'm completely in love! i described this layered effect as "totally crazy and delicious" to some friends earlier, and the more i look at my nails, the more i think that's the perfect description for this mani.

by the way, if you'd like to see sw fx flash layered over black, please check out this post.

swatch: bloom bianca

2010-03-11T13:32:00.005-05:00

bloom polishes unfortunately aren't available in the u.s., which is a shame since i've had my eye on a few for a while! luckily, i was able to score this one through a swap:

the consistency of this polish is a bit odd - it felt like i was spreading a gel over my nails (and a fairly sheer gel at that, as bianca required three or four coats for opacity depending on the thickness of the coats i used). the color is soooo worth it though... i have mermaid nails!

bf says: "your fingernails look like the shells of ten jade turtles."

swatch: opi suzi says feng shui

2010-03-10T10:30:00.002-05:00

from opi's recent hong kong collection. from the same collection i also got jade is the new black, panda-monium pink, and red my fortune cookie, all of which i'll hopefully be posting in the near future!

i'm not normally the biggest fan of medium blues, but i do like this one more than i like most others, probably because of its dusty/darkened quality. application on this was smooth, and the polish required two coats to reach opacity.

bf says: "IDEAL BLUE!"

swatch: rescue beauty lounge coral

2010-03-09T12:05:00.003-05:00

this photo varies wildly depending on the browser in which i view it, so just for reference rbl coral is a very vivid and juicy pink with slight melon undertones.

i absolutely love this color; it's so spring-y and thus perfect for the warm weather we've been having lately. it required just two coats for opacity and applied very smoothly... i adore rbls!

bf says: "you can see the reflection of the window in your nails. a csi person would be able to figure out where you live."

swatch: china glaze dorothy who?

2010-03-05T20:02:00.005-05:00

my bf and i are going to go see the new alice in wonderland movie tonight, for which i meant to wear opi mad as a hatter... but alas, i forgot and put chg dorothy who? on instead!

depending on what browser you're using to view this pic, the polish may be a bit deeper and more vibrant irl. i do like dorothy who?, but unfortunately, after having worn opi absolutely alice i can't fully love the former polish, as it pales in comparison. of course, the two polishes are certainly not dupes, but when i think "amazing blue glitter" it's aa that immediately comes to mind! the consistency of this polish was quite good; the only note i have is that because of its jelly base, it did require three thick coats (plus a few touch-ups) for total opacity.

bf says: "dorothy who? dorothy YOU!"

swatch: nails inc. portland place

2010-03-03T20:26:00.006-05:00

i got this gorgeous jelly polish from a uk friend as part of an asos christmas duo set that also included nails inc. duke st. i love that this is a teal that leans green rather than blue; this quality makes it quite unique in my collection. three coats:

bf says: "this is a good photograph considering that you took it on a moving train! note that my sister is a photographer so i would know! it is in my blood."

swatch: opi absolutely alice

2010-03-01T12:06:00.003-05:00

from opi's recent alice in wonderland collection, tied to the movie of the same name. i edited this photo to make the color of the polish more accurate, so please rest assured that my skin isn't actually red in real life.

i didn't expect to have the reaction to this polish that i did. normally i avoid all but the darkest blues and steer clear of glitter in a clear base, but i'm absolutely in love with absolutely alice! and i'm thrilled that it pairs blue and gold glitter - not only do i find the combination of blue and silver to be a bit played out, but gold also works much better on my skin tone than silver does. photos can't do justice to how incredibly sparkly this polish is; for example, when i wore this it was gray and snowing here and yet my nails were still twinkling.

while i chose to do four coats, this polish was all but completely opaque in three. for maximum glassy shine, i then topped aa with a thick coat of wet 'n' wild clear polish as well as a thick coat of seche vite.

bf says: "is that a lot of coats? it seems like a lot of coats."

swatch: rescue beauty lounge purple haze

2010-02-26T13:56:00.007-05:00

recently, i've gotten a couple of emails from people asking how to follow my blog - i actually didn't have the followers widget added because i personally use google reader instead, but i've just added the followers tool to the top of my sidebar for those of you who have been looking for it. i'm sorry about the confusion! and now, on to the polish:

a fairly vibrant medium purple with only a slight touch of gray, rbl purple haze in my opinion doesn't look its best on darker skin tones (a problem with most light-medium purples, i've found). while it's a pretty color and looks great on others, it doesn't quite pop on me in the same way. instead, it blends into my skin tone (not quite as badly as american apparel dynasty, however) and doesn't provide the contrast and boldness i typically look for in my nail colors.

on the plus side, the application of this polish was good. on the first coat it seems a bit like a jelly and as if it might require three coats for opacity, but it quickly evened out with just a second coat.

bf says: "there's a flaw in your application!"
me: "no, that's a bubble from my top coat. it's a chemical thing; i can't control it."
*long argument about polish application ensues; bf for some reason references marilyn monroe.*

swatch: bb couture impact driver

2010-02-15T17:23:00.002-05:00

from the "tools for men" collection (i know, i know):

this polish had great application and pigmentation (this is two coats) - it flowed onto the nail beautifully and was easy to control. while i love the dusty blue color, this polish isn't ultimately for me because it has shimmer and i'm almost exclusively a creme and glitter girl. if you like it, though, it's available at overall beauty.

bf says: "that has a hint of shimmer... no, sparkles. is it sparkles? a hint of glitter?"

swatch: rescue beauty lounge opaque nude

2010-02-11T13:58:00.002-05:00

it's strange that i consider rbl opaque nude - a neutral - my comfort polish, considering that normally i gravitate toward vampies, bright pinks and orange-reds, and teals. but for some reason this polish always feels 'right' to me.

opaque nude is now unfortunately discontinued, but i have two bottles stockpiled so hopefully i'll never have to be without it! its application is great for a pale shade… pretty streak-free and opaque (true to its name) in just two coats.

to see how this polish looks on someone with a lighter/cooler skin tone, check out tobywoo's pics here.

bf says: "that's skin tone for a white person... you are not white. who do you think you are?!"

swatch: rescue beauty lounge atame

2010-02-03T10:30:00.003-05:00

for a few days after i wore misa dying love i had on opi red hot ayers rock, and now i'm wearing rbl atame:

atame is patchier than most of my other rbl polishes, requiring three coats for opacity. its consistency is very smooth and easy to work with, and it still applies fairly well, but when i use an rbl i hope for the richly pigmented, almost-a-one-coater formula of polishes like teal, orbis non sufficit, and mismas - and atame unfortunately doesn't compare in that regard. still, it's a nice color, and i'm always happy to add to my rbl collection.

bf says: "blluhhh-dh!"

swatch: misa dying love

2010-01-28T14:00:00.005-05:00

so much for my new year's resolution to post four times a week huh? unfortunately, i've been so busy lately that i kept $opi dark room on for a week and my next mani, opi dutch tulips on for close to another week. i'll try to be better from now on!

here's my current notd, misa dying love (two coats):

dying love is a black with silver shimmer that lightens the polish's overall color to more of a charcoal gray. the shimmer in this polish is so fine that it can barely be made out as individual particles; instead, it just serves to give the polish a pearly sheen.

me: "what do you think about this one?"
bf says: "nothing! it's just black! it's not even a color."

swatch: sephora by opi dark room

2010-01-17T08:54:00.002-05:00

i absolutely love this color... i've been wearing it since before the weekend and still have no desire to change my mani:

dark room is a very dark, murky green that's almost black in low light and whose green hue only really comes out in direct sunlight. the polish is thin and appears almost watery on the first coat, but it builds smoothly to achieve opacity within three coats. i feel like i sound so 'flat' here but i really do love this polish - i wear tons of gray in the winter, and i think this color looks great against those clothes.

swatch: rescue beauty lounge lulu

2010-01-14T22:42:00.001-05:00

this polish didn't have quite the opacity and smoothness of most other rbl cremes i own, so this mani required three coats:

i wore lulu with a super severe black dress - heavy fabric, high neck, and sharp, padded shoulders. i loved the contrast.

swatch: sally hansen salon quartz chameleon

2010-01-12T09:52:00.006-05:00

the last couple of days have called for a neutral/"work-appropriate" mani, so i reached for this untried polish (from the fall 2008 sally hansen/tracy reese collaboration):

quartz chameleon went on smoothly and required three coats for opacity. honestly, i don't love this polish, as it's strangely close to my skin tone and kind of makes me look like i'm missing my fingernails. in addition, i think it's pretty clear from the polishes i typically wear that i don't like shimmer... but hey, at least this is no longer an untried!

bf says: "it's yoooou, babyyyy!"
me: "what?"
bf says: "THAT'S ALL I HAVE TO SAY!"

american apparel polish swatches, part 2: berry berry, factory gray, office, and poppy

2010-01-11T08:21:00.004-05:00

here are a few more swatches of american apparel's new polishes - my first set of swatches (with dynasty, mount royal, palm springs, and peacock) is here if you missed it earlier.

given that i'm a huge fan of bright warm-toned cremes, it's no surprise that i love poppy:

this is unfortunately another picture that looks quite off in firefox (way too orange) but normal in safari - it's a vivid red-orange in the same family as opi cajun shrimp. pigmentation on this is great, requiring only two coats for nice opacity, and i know i'll be wearing this polish a lot come spring and summer. excuse the smudged ring finger!

office looked better on my skin tone than i expected, although my favorite mint green is still bb couture laguna lagoon:

this picture is unfortunately off in ff as well (only slightly this time - it's just a bit too light and not blue enough). office was a bit less pigmented than the other aa polishes i tried, requiring three coats for opacity instead of the two the rest required. in a lot of the swatches i've seen this has a strong grayish tinge, but that's not detectable on me. as i look at it against my skin right now, it appears to be pretty much a plain mint green… which unfortunately makes it a lot less interesting than i'd expected!

factory gray changes quite a bit depending on the lighting. sometimes it's a standard gray creme...

while other times it has a strong purple tone (which is again, unfortunately, only really showing up in safari):

factory gray, like dynasty from my last post, is less pigmented than many of the other aa cremes i swatched but is still opaque in two coats. i find it quite unusual and interesting when it has that purple hue to it, but when it's just a regular gray it seems pretty boring to me. this may be because i don't much care for grays on myself, though… i mean, i'm sure poppy has lots of close dupes but you don't see me calling that one boring! ;)

and finally, i loved berry (edit: the aa website is now calling this "berries," but i could've sworn it used to say "berry berry"? weird.):

this polish seems to me like it should be dupable… but whatever the dupe is, i can't think of it! i don't have much to say about this one except that it applied very smoothly and was quite pigmented (perfect in two coats), and i can't wait to wear it as a full mani!

i plan to go back to posting my regular notds for a bit now, and then when i get a bit of free time, i'll add a third part to this american apparel series with some comp swatches. :)

packing for my return to new york...

2010-01-08T22:22:00.001-05:00

after a few weeks away. think i brought enough polish? :P

goodbye, sunlight swatches! luckily, i was able to take pics of the rest of the aa polishes today, so they'll be up once i edit them.

american apparel polish swatches, part 1: dynasty, mount royal, palm springs, and peacock

2010-01-06T22:04:00.001-05:00

i own an embarrassing number of tri-blend tees and lamé leggings, so i was stoked to hear american apparel had come out with its own line of nail polish. even before i did my research, i was pretty sure they'd be all cremes… and much to my delight, they were! just fyi, these polishes are available on the aa website for $6 each, although i got mine at my local aa store, which was selling 3 for $15.

i want to start with my absolute fave from this collection, peacock:

it was love at first sight for me and this polish! peacock is a gorgeous, richly pigmented teal that was perfectly opaque in two thin coats. when i get a chance i plan to compare this to illamasqua muse and a couple of other teals i have. gahhh i can't stop staring at this color; it's so beautiful.

probably my second favorite of the aa polishes i swatched was mount royal:

unfortunately, this photo looks quite different in different browsers, and i have no idea which version most of you are seeing. :/ please know that mount royal is *not* a straight-up blue creme; rather, it has a purple tone to it. the first time i tried to apply this polish i found it a bit on the thick side, but upon a second attempt it was pretty workable, so i may have to blame user error for this issues i originally had. like peacock, this polish is practically opaque in one coat and perfect in two. quite unique in my collection and really lovely.

i'm still undecided on how i feel about palm springs:

one thing i can say in this polish's favor is that it applied very well for a a pale shade - it was smooth and opaque in two coats, with only a couple of touch-ups needed. i'm not entirely sure who this shade would suit (don't you think it kind of looks like i smeared too-light concealer on my fingertips?)… i need to try it on myself again now that i've chopped my nails. i pretty much always feel better about a polish when i wear it on super-short nails.

and i absolutely hated dynasty on myself, but luckily it'll soon have a good home with a friend of mine:

a dusty light-medium purple in the same general family as opi parlez-vous opi and streetwear jelly, dynasty was less pigmented than the other aa polishes i swatched but still opaque in two coats. unfortunately, wearing this shade reminds me of the reason i got rid of pvo - polishes this color are too close to my skin tone, so they make me look like i've lost circulation to my fingertips or something. if you're ~nc42, i'd steer clear!

part 2 (featuring berry berry, factory gray, office, and poppy) will be up soon, as soon as i have a chance to swatch.

happy new year!

2010-01-04T23:12:00.000-05:00

hi everyone, and happy 2010! i have two polish-related resolutions this new year:

first, i'm going to try to make myself always wear a base coat - i tend to slack off on it because my nails are strong and i don't really care about staining, but this way i'll be able to swatch sheers alone if i ever feel like doing so.

second, i hope to strengthen my commitment to this blog and post notds/swatches at least four times a week. i really want to provide a resource for other girls of my skin tone seeking to know how certain polishes will look on them, and that won't happen if i don't post pics regularly!

and on that note, stay tuned for swatches from american apparel's new nail polish collection - i'll start getting pics up tomorrow. :)

swatch: nails inc. victoria gate

2009-12-31T22:29:00.005-05:00

happy new year's eve to all! this is my absolute favorite holiday... it's so full of promise.

here's a recent notd, nails inc. victoria gate (three coats):

i am lame and sleepy, so i have enlisted my bff poonam to give you her commentary on this shade:
"victoria gate has an excellent application, like so many of the nails inc. shades. the color is a strong berry with purple elements and, while i would hesitate to recommend it as a "fun frolicky" shade, this jewel tone is subtle and extremely apropos for the holiday season! it reminds me of christmas ornaments of days of yore! i would recommend pairing it with a fun colored cocktail or festive footwear for maximum holiday enjoyment! countdown to the new year on my end is 35 minutes, so off i go!"

...mama hearts her exclamation points. see you all in 2010!

swatch: nails inc. rodeo drive

2009-12-27T13:22:00.006-05:00

i fell i love with the rather un-festive notd i wore earlier this week, nails inc. rodeo drive... so much so that i kept it on for four days!

here's how this polish looks in the sun:

and here's how it looks in the shade (this more blue-toned color is what shows up in indoor lighting as well):

please excuse the lotion and poshe residue in these pics, yikes!

rodeo drive is a gorgeous color, just a bit more blue than rescue beauty lounge teal. the formulas of the two polishes are also quite comparable (creamy, pigmented, and fully even in two coats), although i personally find the rbl easier to apply because of its smaller cap. imo, while the two colors aren't exact dupes, they are close enough that most people won't need both... i'll do a comparison when i get back to new york!

bf says: "this is a nice polish named after a gross road in a bad city."

swatch: sally hansen salon project runway

2009-12-25T12:35:00.009-05:00

merry christmas to all who are celebrating today! in honor of the holiday, i'm wearing sally hansen salon project runway, from a recent collection that's currently exclusive to canada (so a big thank-you to the lovely girl who sent this polish my way!). there have been rumors that this collection may be coming to the u.s. at some point, but honestly, i wouldn't trust a thing sally hansen's customer service people say... they usually seem to be pretty clueless about distribution, etc.

the above picture is of two coats. while this polish for the most part applied pretty well, it did have a somewhat odd consistency... it almost felt like i was gliding thin melted jello onto my nail. also, i was expecting this polish to look slightly different on me based on other people's pictures (i thought it would be darker and less blue, and that the gold shimmer would be more visible on the nail), but i do still like it quite a bit. what i do not like, however, is the crazy shrinkage poshe gave me on this mani! *grumbles*

and now, i'm headed off on a trip for a few days, although i've scheduled a couple of posts to go up during that time. i hope you all have a good weekend!

swatch: essie ruby slippers

2009-12-21T14:16:00.006-05:00

last week i wore essie ruby slippers to a holiday party with my bf... and i loved it so much i kept it on for five days straight!

this is my hg red glitter polish, and i think it's absolutely perfect for the holiday season. it strikes me as much more complex than the widely popular chg ruby pumps, although having never owned the latter polish, i can't say for sure.

ruby slippers has a jelly base so it does require a number of coats for opacity (i used three for the mani above), but it's quite easy to work with. and one coat of seche vite was enough to make the finish glassy and totally smooth!

swatch: illamasqua grab

2009-12-20T22:01:00.006-05:00

hi guys! sorry to have been so absent from here - my laptop kicked the bucket pretty much as soon as i landed in california, and until it's fixed i don't have access to my saved pictures or any photo editing software. but while i've got a second, here's a photo of the notd i wore for *gasp* four days last week, illamasqua grab:

unfortunately, this isn't a color-accurate photo - this polish is much darker and richer irl. but while grab is tough to capture, it's lovely to apply... creamy and opaque in two coats.

bf says: "that looks like a lisa frank trapper keeper."

swatch: opi lincoln park after dark suede

2009-12-16T08:25:00.006-05:00

hi everyone! sorry for my absence this past week - i got caught up in helping a friend with a cross-country move, yikes! today i'm headed back to california to spend the holidays with my family; while i won't have access to my full stash during my trip, i did prepare a few swatches so that i'll have something to post for the next couple of weeks. and since for the next few weeks i won't be living on the sixth floor of a walk-up apartment building, i may actually be able to do a few outdoor photos as well!

here's a polish i wore as my notd recently, opi lincoln park after dark suede:

imo, opi's suedes are far better than their mattes (which just look like gloppy dried paint to me); their chunky shimmer gives them a unique appearance, and they look very smooth on the nail. they apply smoothly as well - the above swatch is of two coats that went on quite effortlessly and dried very quickly.

unfortunately, when it comes to wear time these polishes fall short. my manicure above was absolutely destroyed after a day and a half - we're talking huge chips and polish rubbed off in swaths on at least half of my nails. boo!

swatch: nails inc. curzon street

2009-12-09T18:40:00.009-05:00

this is from the qvc uk autumn/winter set available here.

this polish goes slightly muted/dusty in strong light:

but looks like this in typical indoor lighting:

very smooth application, two coats

swatch: zoya blair

2009-12-07T20:24:00.007-05:00

a quickie post, since i'm running out the door:

a gorgeous example of the "lit from within" family of polishes many people love.

swatch: zoya envy

2009-12-05T17:31:00.008-05:00

i absolutely love this super-dark green creme. i know many dislike envy because its green tone disappears somewhat in dimmer lighting, but i'm a big fan of almost-black shades. please excuse the polish i accidentally slopped all over my ring finger:

envy has an unusual texture - on the first coat, it's quite sheer and somewhat grainy-looking, but then it becomes extremely dark and even with just one more coat. the graininess of the first coat of polish suggests that envy would have some shimmer; however there is nothing i hate more than subtle/"secret" shimmer and i promise this polish doesn't have it, not even when right under a bright light.

bf says: "...is that black? black and something else? what color is it?"

ughhh the weather is so gross here, so i'm off to eat mac & cheese in bed while watching entourage. happy saturday!

swatch: zoya dakota

2009-12-04T10:28:00.007-05:00

hi everyone! this will be a quick one, as i'm totally swamped today. here's a swatch of the polish i'm currently wearing as my pedi, zoya dakota:

that's three coats with some touch-ups. the formula on this one is nice and thin without being watery; if you're scared of vnl, however, do be forewarned that dakota is a jelly and will thus require some work to get totally opaque. also, for some reason this polish looks much darker on my feet than it does on my hands...

bf says: "that looks like blood."

swatch: bb couture for men grenade

2009-12-02T14:47:00.008-05:00

i'm having pangs of swapper's remorse over this one... but then again, i never wore it in the months that i owned it, so it's good that it went to a better home. a gorgeous olive green absolutely packed with gold shimmer:

very smooth application, three coats. bb couture polishes (including the men's collection) are available at overallbeauty.com.

swatch: illamasqua hectic

2009-12-01T09:44:00.009-05:00

for the past couple of days i've been wearing illamasqua hectic, a polish that unfortunately didn't make it to sephora stores stateside. here's how it looks on me in indirect sunlight:

and here's how it looks on me in indoor lighting (i.e. most of the time)... quite a bit more browned:

when i applied the first coat of this polish, i almost wanted to laugh at how horrible it looked with my coloring - it was basically a sickly green version of my skin, really awful. but as i built up a couple more layers of this shade, the color deepened considerably, and i found that it wasn't actually so bad. that said, i wouldn't exactly go running to recommend it to other tan and olive-toned girls...

hectic is a bit more sheer than most of the illamasqua polishes i own, requiring three coats plus some additional touch-ups for opacity. besides the lack of heavy pigmentation, however, the formula was quite good. and now i'm really looking forward to trying out my mac dry martini, as it looks to be quite a bit darker than hectic and will thus hopefully provide a better contrast with my skin.

by the way, if you're in the market for a browned olive green, you have a few options besides hectic: rescue beauty lounge no more war, the aforementioned mac dry martini, and obsessive compulsive cosmetics swamp thing. check out flinty's great comparison of the last two here!

as i mentioned earlier, hectic is not currently available in the united states. i received mine as a gift from a generous friend, but if you're interested in getting one for yourself, hectic and other uk-exclusive polishes can be purchased from illamasqua directly. unfortunately, buying from the illamasqua site is quite pricey - the polishes retail for £12.50 (= $20.63) each, plus shipping to anywhere outside the eu is £7.50 (= $12.38). all that said, illamasqua is currently offering free shipping worldwide on orders of £65 (= $107.25) or more; details on the promotion are available here.

bf says: "are you in the military now? that looks like camouflage."

swatch: zoya ciara

2009-11-29T09:45:00.010-05:00

i actually have this on my toes at the moment, but a picture of my feet will go up on the internet over my dead body. so, a quick swatch!

as i've mentioned before, zoya is my go-to brand for pedis, for a couple of reasons. first, while i normally love the opi pro-wide, trying to maneuver it around my wee nubbin toenails makes for a huge mess. i find the small brush of zoya polishes less than ideal for manis, but absolutely perfect for mess-free pedicures. in addition, while i'll rock even the most out-there colors on my fingernails (teal jelly holo glitter? i'm there!), for my pedis i'm super-traditional: vampy, red, berry, or pink cremes only, no exceptions. and zoya does these more conservative colors so well!

i'm quite happy with ciara - it's very pretty, and while most people would consider it a "safe" color, sometimes that's exactly what i want. plus its application was smooth, and it was opaque in two coats. i do my pedis while standing in front of my desk, putting my feet up on the writing surface one at a time (basically like a flamingo, haha), so i'm always glad to find a polish that minimizes how much time i'll have to spend in that odd position.

by the way, ciara is quite a bit darker in indoor lighting... definitely more of a berry than a pink.

bf says: "excellent application!" that's a big compliment coming from him, since the last time i did swatches, he told me my "gap" was too big, ha!

comparison swatches: avon golden twilight, china glaze wagon trail, and opi ds mystery

2009-11-28T14:50:00.011-05:00

a friend on the nb was planning an avon order and was curious how golden twilight compared to some similar polishes from other brands, so i took the opportunity to do these swatches:

from left to right:

china glaze wagon trail (on my index finger) is a black base color packed with fine gold shimmer, giving the polish an overall olive appearance. it's a well-done polish, but the shimmer is too fine to really appeal to my taste these days.

avon golden twilight (on my middle finger) actually has a very deep blue-purple base (captured well by steph's closet), but it looks pretty much black on my nails. the gold shimmer in golden twilight is chunkier than the shimmer in wagon trail yet doesn't shine through the base color well, giving this polish a muddy appearance. i wish i'd passed on this one!

opi ds mystery (on my ring finger) is my favorite of the bunch. while it's not the deep purple holo i had imagined when i first heard that a purple ds polish was in the works, i still love it. this polish has a base color that's much more strongly purple than golden twilight's (although to be fair, it's still quite close to black) as well as very chunky gold shimmer that stands out nicely. i'll definitely be doing a full notd with this one soon.

swatch: lippmann superstar

2009-11-27T14:24:00.007-05:00

i hope you all had a nice day yesterday, whether it was thanksgiving for you or not! here's a pic of my holiday mani:

this espresso jelly with copper glitter struck me as the perfect thanksgiving polish, and i got lots of compliments on it yesterday (even from normally polish-oblivious boys). the coverage superstar offers is quite good, which i always appreciate from a jelly/glitter - the above photograph is of three coats, although i think two would generally be fine for most people. i think i might make this my go-to thanksgiving mani, just like i plan to wear china glaze fortune teller on halloween every year from here on out.

swatch: orly enchanted forest and zoya "green friday" promotion

2009-11-26T08:33:00.009-05:00

happy thanksgiving!! as this post goes up, i'm currently on a train to the berkshires to spend the holiday with a good friend and his family. i unfortunately didn't have enough light to take pictures of my thanksgiving notd (lippmann superstar) before i left, but i'll be sure to post photos tomorrow. for now, here's a pic of orly enchanted forest, since i neglected to include it in my recent green comparison:

by the way, if you like green polish, zoya is running a great promotion through 11:59 p.m. est this friday (11/27). with the code "greenfriday," any purchase of $20 or more will receive six full-size green zoya polishes (envy, irene, midori, suvi, tangy, and veruschka) absolutely free! for swatches of these colors, check nailgal.com (always an excellent resource!), and for more details on the promotion, visit the zoya blog.

i personally love zoya - to the point that i have close to 50 of their polishes. not only do i appreciate that they offer great discount codes to make their polishes affordable for their customers, but they're also my go-to brand for pedis because of their small brush (clean-up-free pedicures? sign me up!). to see swatches of all the brand's polishes i've posted on my blog so far, check the zoya label - while i don't have pics of all of them up here yet, my personal top five are ali, astra, dita, pinta, and roxy. and now i have to stop typing because i've written the word "zoya" about nine million times in this post, and it's starting to look weird. i hope those of you who celebrate thanksgiving have a great holiday!

comparison swatches: bb couture, illamasqua, rescue beauty lounge, and zoya greens

2009-11-24T08:24:00.007-05:00

i haven't yet decided on today's notd (currently leaning towards nails inc. curzon street, but we'll see), so in the meantime here are some green comparison swatches i did this past weekend.

from thumb to pinky: bb couture green goblin, rescue beauty lounge orbis non sufficit, rescue beauty lounge recycle, zoya envy, and illamasqua rampage. orbis non sufficit is the dustiest of the bunch and has the best formula, envy is (clearly) the darkest, and rampage is the only one of these polishes with a jelly finish.

i wasn't thinking and didn't include orly enchanted forest in this comp, so i'll try to take pics with it included in the near future. i also have a dark green from l.a. girl's flare line that might be interesting to compare as well.

as you can see from the above pic, green goblin and recycle are quite similar, so i did a second comp featuring just those two polishes:

bb couture green goblin on index and ring finger, rescue beauty lounge recycle on middle finger.

recycle is more of a "clear"/true green, whereas green goblin is more yellow/brown (which i personally prefer). also, green goblin's formula is superior to recycle's - while green goblin was perfect in two coats, recycle was more watery and needed three coats for complete evenness.

scrangie has a comp of recycle and green goblin here that makes the two polishes look much more different from each other, but i can honestly say that they didn't look nearly that different on me, even under a bright desk lamp. the pic i posted above is literally the *most* different they ever look on me, and in most/dimmer lighting, the two polishes are practically indistinguishable.

swatch: nails inc. berkeley square

2009-11-23T11:43:00.010-05:00

sorry to have slacked off on the notd posting... all the swatching i was doing for the nb top 20 totally killed my desire to take even more nail photos. but i'm back!

asoifhdsohfihwhas obsessed!!! i love how dark this cool-toned gray is, and it has that famous nails inc. application - wonderfully creamy, richly pigmented, and absolutely perfect in two coats.

the nails inc. formula is right up there with rbl's and illamasqua's; in my experience, nails inc. and rbl polishes are a bit more "flowy" than illamasqua lacquers (which, in contrast, generally go exactly where you put them), but their pigmentation is richer and more consistent. that said, all three brands are excellent, and the differences between them that i'm mentioning are quite subtle.

bf says: "WHOA i like that color a LOT. it kind of has blue tones."

top 20!

2009-11-21T13:59:00.007-05:00

it's top 20 day, and i couldn't be more excited - this is one of my favorite nb events! my list this time around consists of:

barielle beaches & dreams
bb couture laguna lagoon
bb couture night ops
illamasqua boosh
illamasqua muse
nails inc. berkeley square
nails inc. the serpentine
opi cajun shrimp
opi monsooner or later
opi we'll always have paris
rescue beauty lounge mismas
rescue beauty lounge orbis non sufficit
rescue beauty lounge teal
sephora by opi dark room
sephora by opi what's a tire jack? matte
zoya ali
zoya astra
zoya dita
zoya pinta
zoya roxy

as i post notds with more of these polishes, i'll update this post with links to the entries.

swatch: misa on the edge

2009-11-19T22:21:00.013-05:00

a gorgeous, smooth, creamy medium-dark blue with wonderful pigmentation. this photo is of two coats:

i tried to do a comp of this with nails inc. the serpentine, but the pics didn't come out well (on the edge wound up looking practically neon, wtf?), so a description will have to do. the two polishes have equally wonderful formulas/application and are both opaque in two effortless coats. on the edge, however, is a purer blue, while the serpentine is dustier, like it's had a bit of dark gray or dark purple added to it. i prefer the serpentine (i find dusty colors more interesting than pure ones), but only slightly so.

bf says: "that looks like a liquid still, like it hasn't dried yet." (and people say poshe isn't shiny! ;))

in other news, just submitted my list for the nb top 20... can't wait for saturday!

swatch: rescue beauty lounge recycle

2009-11-18T18:21:00.011-05:00

i don't love this one nearly as much as i used to... it was on my top 20 list last june, but now i'm thinking about swapping it away. how our tastes change! recycle is a true medium-green creme (that is of course quite a bit darker in indoor lighting), whereas these days i prefer my greens dusty or super-vampy. some of my current green loves are rbl orbis non sufficit, illamasqua rampage, sopi dark room, and zoya envy.

recycle isn't quite as richly pigmented as the other rbl cremes i own, but it should still be fine in two careful coats (i opted to do three less-than-careful coats, haha).

bf says: "your fingers look like a white person's in that photo. you are not white and are in fact quite brown." hahaha

btw, as soon as i can get the swatches done i'll post comparison pics of recycle with orbis non sufficit and bb couture green goblin... stay tuned!

swatch: illamasqua lament

2009-11-17T17:16:00.005-05:00

another old one...

while i like this color, i was at the same time disappointed by it. from the photos that influenced my purchase, i was expecting lament to be lighter and more muted, and instead it turned out to be a super-bright pink. i like super-bright pinks... but i also have about 2348209384 of them already.

also, the application of this polish wasn't as smooth/great as that of the other illamasquas i own. the polish itself was easy to control (that is, it went where i put it), but the result was chalky and uneven. the above picture is three coats plus touch-ups.