Manicure Monday

GUYS! I DID IT! I finally finished wearing every single one of my polishes. It would have happened sooner if I could have stopped myself from picking up new ones, but...whatever. New Year's resolution DEFEATED. Boom.

This is a pretty massive post, so I'm going to try and keep it short(ish) and sweet(ish). I got gradually less successful at being brief over time...

Sally Hansen Rosy Outlook with Wet N Wild Waves of Enchantment, taped

WoE is sheer, but it's really pretty layered over Rosy Outlook.

Wet N Wild Black Creme topped with Maybelline Twilight Rays, with Sinful Colors All About You taped on middle and ring fingers

Twilight Rays is sheer, but it's nice over black. All About You went with it really well, but it's got a thin, runny formula, so I put it in the giveaway bin.

Zoya Dream

Felt like I should have the complete Zoya scattered holo set. This is just as beautiful as the others (Storm, Aurora, Blaze, Payton; Logan is also listed as a holo on their site, but it doesn't have the same finish as the others): pigmented (2 coats), smooth, and mesmerizingly sparkly. Love.

Wet N Wild French White Creme with Orly Au Champagne and Essence Prism@tic White

This is a crappy photo. Sorry. French White Creme is supposed to be a nice drugstore white, but it's still somewhat patchy after 2 coats. Au Champagne is nice, but somewhat thick and slow drying. Prismatic White is pretty, though sheer. Au Champagne is a pass, but I'll hold on to the other two.

Wet N Wild Black Creme with Sinful Colors What's Your Name and Finger Paints Motley

Another crappy photo. I was going through a phase, I guess. I layered What's Your Name over WNW Black Creme because I thought it wasn't opaque on its own, but it actually is, so next time I'll just wear it that way. It's got duochrome sparkles in it! Blue to purple shift. Motley is a mix of green and blue flakies, which shift to blue and purple. It's pretty.

Sinful Colors Big Daddy with Zoya Amy and Cult Nails Captivated

This was my birthday party mani (Amy on its own was my actual birthday mani, but I didn't photograph it). Even though I don't like orange, as a rule, I had to get Zoya Amy, for obvious reasons. It's somewhat sheer on its own; I had to do 3 coats when I wore it that way, and it took forever to dry, so I just layered it here. Big Daddy is an orange cream and it's fine, orange and whatever, but I decided I didn't like it enough to hold on to. Captivated is super sparkly and pretty, and between it and the foil finish of Amy, I didn't hate the fact that I was wearing orange. (Also, who doesn't love wearing a polish that shares their name?!)

Sally Hansen Ruby Do (with Finger Paints Twisted)

no top coat! so glossy.

My local Rite-Aid recently had a makeover (and now carries Senna, wtf!), and to celebrate the reopening they had Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicures BOGO free. I love these polishes, so I got Ruby Do and Peach of Cake (below). Ruby Do is a wonderfully creamy, pigmented maroon. It basically applied itself. Then, since I was trying to finish all my polishes, I layered Finger Paints Twisted on top, which is the multicolored flaky.

rawr.

It was pretty and sparkly and color changey and fun.

Sally Hansen Peach of Cake with Golden Rose Jolly Jewels 103

Peach of Cake is a light peach. The formula isn't as nice as Ruby Do, and I found it prone to dragging, but 2 coats were fine for layering. I'm not sure I love the color on my skintone (it looks fabulous on darker-skinned ladies [and gents, I suppose], based on online swatches), but I don't have anything else like it so I'll hold on to it for now.

And the very last unworn polish!:
Wet N Wild Caribbean Frost with Maybelline Emerald Elegance

I did a coat of Caribbean Frost just so that I wouldn't need to do too many of Emerald Elegance to get it opaque, but I don't find myself wearing it so it's been added to the giveaway pile. Emerald Elegance is part of Maybelline's LE Brocades collection, and while it's not as complex as my favorite from the range (Lavishly Lilac), it's still a very nice green glitter with green and yellow shimmer. Very Christmasy!

For most of the manis I've featured this calendar year, I've used OPI Nail Envy Sensitive as my base coat and Milani Glossé as top coat. I like them both, and am super sad that Glossé seems to have been discontinued (I'm hoping that the newly-released Milani top coat is the same thing, renamed, but haven't had the chance to try it yet). I'm now using OPI Nail Envy (the original formula) to see if it will help strengthen my nails yet further, and American Classics In a Hurry Air Dry Top Coat, but I only switched to them this week so I haven't formed strong opinions. For bumpy glitters and textured polishes, I layer American Classics Gelous before applying top coat to smooth the surface, which does help (though for particularly textured polishes, I sometimes have to repeat the process). I've heard good things about the new Revlon Gel top coat (not actually a gel), but haven't yet spotted it in stock.

I recently moved, which allowed me the chance to set up my makeup and polish in an appealing way. I'll be posting my makeup station later, but thought I would show my polish organization now!

in context. You can't really see it here, but the two bottom shelves are
zig-zagged so that all the colors fit. It's pretty spiffy.

My polishes are arranged in rows in a bookshelf on top of my dresser; they share the space with candles, perfume, and some frabbits (not pictured here) that the boy has made me. The primary groupings are linear holos, neutral/office appropriate polishes, cream finishes, opaque polishes, and layering polishes, in rainbowish order within each group. You can see my spiffy new Polish Page to see all my polishes, with links to swatches. Any that do not already have swatches will be posted in the near future, now that I can rewear polishes ;)

What do you think of these last manis? What's your favorite base/top coat? How do you organize your polishes?