Manicure Monday

So much for resuming super regular posting, ha! Comes as no surprise, I'm sure. Working on an abstract due at the end of July, so I haven't had much time for anything besides coding lately. This still isn't all the manis I've worn and not posted about over the past few months, but it's some! And I'm down to less than 15 unworns, HUZZAH!

Zoya Storm with Sally Hansen Golden Tourmaline

Two holos, both lovely in their own way. Storm is opaque in 2 coats and is a scattered holo; Golden Tourmaline is a one coater and linear holo. Taping is fun! This was taken on day 2, hence the tip wear. Keeping them both!

Manicure Monday

Hi, y'all! Sorry I've been so MIA (I mean, even more than usual). I'll ease into posting again with a new Manicure Monday––it's been more than 2 months since my last one (wtfffff), but I've been trucking along with my NY resolution. It might go faster if I stopped buying new polishes, but...well, I'm only (a nail polish addicted) human. This isn't everything I've worn, but I'll include the rest in my next MM :)

Color Club Eternal Beauty

This is a polish I haven't already posted, in spite of having had it for, like, a year. It was part of the set gifted to me by the lovely Amanda! All the CC holos are super holographic and incredibly pigmented (this was one coat!), and really fast to dry. Unfortunately, it doesn't get along with uneven nails, and chipped on my middle fingers (both of which had lost the upper layer of nail on the tip). It's real pretty, though, and good for days I don't have much time to devote to my nails. I also want to use it with others from the line in nail art! Rainbowy holo goodness.

Manicure Monday

Still truckin' along with my NY resolution! Here's some of what's been on my tips the past couple weeks.

a england St. George

Amazed I haven't reviewed this already! It's a gorgeous dark teal with subtle holo, opaque in one coat. I remember disliking the a england brush, but it was fine this time (except for my ring fingers, which both ended up with polish on the cuticle, how annoying!). I wasn't going to photograph it because my nails are super short, due to one breaking, but then I discovered I haven't featured this polish yet, so I figured it's better to have stubby photos than none at all. Now I want to try Dragon again to see if maybe it will behave better than I remember...

Manicure Monday

Because it's still Monday in Oregon!

Ruby Wing Poppy with Cult Nails Alter Ego

This shot was taken after Poppy had started to change colors. I seriously wish all polishes were UV sensitive. Alter Ego, another DC Cult Nails polish (I only buy them when they're on sale, ha), gives an interesting antique gold shimmer overlay. I'm still experimenting to find what colors I like it layered over, but basically, sheer toppers = endless fun.

Manicure Monday

Wow, it's been forever since I've done one of these. Which is silly, because I've been wearing nail polish pretty much constantly! So this is pretty mondo, sorry.

The boy's birthday was the 7th, so I asked him how he'd like me to do my nails. He requested an ombre from turquoise to dark blue; turns out I have enough polishes matching that description to make all 10 nails different! I used 12 polishes, most of which I hadn't yet worn this year, so it made a nice dent in my new year's resolution :)

rawr

Pinky to thumb, left hand: Sally Hansen New Wave Blue topped with Finger Paints Art You Wondering?; Wet N Wild Caribbean Frost; Zoya Wednesday topped with Golden Rose 52; Color Club Blue Heaven; Zoya Yummy

Manicure Monday

Hi again! I hope y'all have had a great holiday season. I've been enjoying my time off school and indulging in some reading for pleasure (it'd been years since I'd really done that!), which has left less time for research and blogging, but whatever. It's winter break! I'm going to hibernate. And code. (I finally actually made some headway in that department, and wow, I totally understand why people do CS. When it works, you feel like a GOD. It's awesome. When it doesn't work, you want to kill yourself and everyone you've ever known, but you can't, because then you'll never figure out the puzzle of why it's not working...)

Here are some pictures of manis I've done the last few weeks; I did a green and red one for Christmas, but didn't take pictures because I felt like ignoring my duties as a blogger, but I'm sure you'll see the polishes I used at some point in the future. For now, here are these!

Winter Wonderland

Schnee! Kar! Nieve! Snow! (All the languages I speak
use the same writing system. Sorry to be so boring.)

This is a single coat of three white polishes layered to try and create snowy nails. I did it during our week of snow, when I was trapped at home, before I got annoyed with the stupid white stuff. It's Wet N Wild's white $0.99 polish topped with Orly Au Champagne and Orly Winter Wonderland. It wasn't fully opaque, but I didn't really care, because the shimmer from Winter Wonderland helped disguise it. That polish is really appropriately named! It does look like frosty magic.

Manicure Monday

I've been having some digestive issues lately, which hasn't left me feeling particularly bloggy, but I have procured some new polishes––nothing quite like colorful sparkle fingertips to take away from stomach malaise, no? (Also, due to the discomfort and concomitant resurgence of CFS symptoms, I've been rather absent from the blogosphere, too, which I must apologize for! It's gotten to the point where I'm so far behind on commenting that the thought of trying to catch up gives me anxiety, so while I have been reading and loving y'all's posts, I may not ever write the comments to prove it. I'm sorry! Feel free to not comment on my posts for a few weeks...)

Nubar Iris Dust
This is actually about a year old, but I don't think I've ever shown it here. It's a super dramatic multichrome, shifting from a deep purple to a bright yellow. I wasn't able to capture all the shades, but the shots below capture how it looks most of the time.

It's a perfect fall polish, since it matches the glorious trees. It's very, very sheer, though, so I recommend layering it; I did two coats of Iris Dust over two coats of Wet N Wild Under Your Spell. I neglected to photograph it until a couple of days after applying, hence the tip wear, but I find the wear to be pretty typical. You can find it on eBay for ~$5, which is where I bought mine.

Manicure Monday

Two more Turkish polishes for your viewing pleasure! I think there's only one left––I wore it, but neglected to photograph it, so you'll get to see that...eventually. But here's the ones I did snap!

Flormar Duo 2x Chrome DC05

There were a few polishes in this Flormar duochrome line, but this one was by far the most duochrome-y of them all, so it's the one I got. It is exactly the same color/shift (green-to-blue) as in China Glaze Unpredictable, but the formula is better––DC05 is opaque in 2 coats compared to Unpredictable's 3, and it's less prone to brushstrokes, though as a metallic, there are still some. It's pretty and fun, and it cost 4,49 TL, I think (about $2.25).

Guest Post: Manicure Monday

Hey, y'all. Long time no see! I'm having a blast in Turkey and Berlin (particularly today, as it is my birthday!!), hence the total dereliction of my blogging duties. Today's post is brought to you by one of my dear friends Z, a talented artist, hilarious storyteller, and all-around great person. Enjoy!

Happy Manicure Monday!  I'm one of Amy's college friends.  I don't wear a lot of makeup but I do share Amy's passion for nail polish.  I usually prefer cremes, which is why the manicure I'm about to endorse is such an unusual choice for me.

I have creme polishes in a range of colors, but my favorites are deep nudes and dusty pinks.  Thus it makes sense that when I branch out into something more shiny, I go for colors that harmonize with my skin tone.  Sally Hansen Firefly fits the bill.  It's a gorgeously restrained duochrome that shifts subtly from rose to light olive-gold, hitting different notes of copper on the way.  I thought Firefly would be too warm for my coloring but it worked surprisingly well on me.

I love nail polish because I love color - every time I go to the drugstore I get sidetracked by the nail polish displays.  I had been eyeing Essie Stroke of Brilliance since it first came out:  the combination of a calm periwinkle-gray hue and a bold sparkly texture immediately stood out to me.

This morning the magic happened - two coats of Firefly followed by a coat of S.O.B. (heh) and an additional layer of clear topcoat.  I had to dab extra sparkles on a goodly number of nails, but I can imagine a more laid-back person not needing to do this.  My nails were drying for a long time, but it was so worth it.  I love the contrast of the colors up close and the sparkly lilac effect they create from a distance.  It's a perfect "I'm-on-vacation" manicure, full of bright light and texture.

Awesome, right? Now I need to get my hands on Firefly, stat. What are your favorite unexpected color combinations?

Zoya Reva Review and Swatches

I was going to include this in my random polish spam post, but ended up deciding it was worth writing a full review of. This polish is awesome, y'all.

Zoya Reva

Reva is a cool red with duochrome gold-to-magenta foil (which I totally wasn't expecting, and which just goes to show why I love Zoya polishes!). It's so rich and glowy! 

a england Dragon (from The Legends Collection) Nail Polish Review and Swatches

I'm, like, two months late to this party. Adina is the lovely creator of a england polish, which debuted with The Mythicals, a collection inspired by King Arthur in late 2010/early 2011 (this was before I got into polish hardcore) to much acclaim. Earlier this year she released another collection, called The Legends, inspired by the legend of Saint George. 6 out of 7 of the shades are holographic and 3 of those are duochrome, so needless to say, I was beyond excited to see swatches. I managed to restrain myself to just one choice, though I'm still dying to get St. George (awesomely glowy dark turquoise) and Bridal Veil (holographic black! aaah!), and Princess Tears (light pink-lavender with grey shift) and Ascalon (darker purple with grey shift) certainly call to me, too, especially given my fondness for lavender polish. But anyways! I ended up only getting Dragon because it seemed the awesomest of the awesome choices. And wow, how awesome it is.

2 coats Dragon

Zoya Reece Nail Polish Review and Swatches

I finally, finally felt like my nails were looking nice enough to try painting them. Turns out, they're not quite there yet, but close enough that I felt okay taking swatch pictures!

I got this back during Zoya's Red promotion for Valentine's Day (it wasn't the red I chose––that's Reva, which I'll be posting once I wear it!) because I felt like I didn't have enough pink polish (that's not glitter or holo or cream) and Reece looked pink but still interesting. And lo and behold, pink and interesting it is!

Some Random Polish Swatches

I'm not wearing polish on my nails for the time being while I use Nailtiques on them to try and make them not suck, but I have some swatches from before my self-imposed polish absence that I don't care enough about to write individual posts for, but that I would nonetheless like to be able to get off my computer, so I figured I would just throw them at you! And use a really long sentence to do so!

Essence Where Is The Party?

How it looks in the bottle most
of the time

The name of this polish makes me laugh, because you would never hear it said like that (except by ESL speakers, which I would guess the namers of this polish are, since Essence is a German company). It sounds so formal! So funny how little things like not contracting sounds so weird (even though I wrote that sentence, I was still momentarily confused by the status of "sounds". I've clearly spent too much time linguisting...).

And how it looks in the bottle at an angle!

How it looks in head-on light

Crazy color shift!

Anyways. Linguistic entertainment aside, this is a pretty cool polish. It was the first duochrome I got, though I've actually yet to wear it as a full mani. It's a purple-green duochrome, and shifts from being a rich purple head-on to being a softer grey-purple that shifts to green in different light. It's got a slightly frosty finish, so you do have to be a bit careful about applying, but it's not really high-maintenance. It's a little thick, too, so you have to let it dry between coats if you ever want it to fully dry, but for a buck, I can't complain! I think this was 3 coats, but it's been awhile, so I'm not sure. You can get Essence at Ulta and Fred Meyer, as far as I know, though there may be other retailers, and from drugstores in Germany (and possibly elsewhere in Europe?).

Fyrinnae Swatches, Part II

And here's the second part of my Fyrinnae order! You can find part one here. These are all Arcane Magic shadows, which are duochrome, so naturally I had to get a few. I don't even want to talk about how long it took me to narrow down which ones to order...

The rightmost 3 are featured in this post: Evocation, Sorceress, and Raven's Prophecy.

Evocation was a natural pick, since hello, it's DUOCHROME TAUPE! *flails* It's a neutral taupe base that color shifts from rose to green. It is awesome. The duochrome shift isn't crazy dramatic, so it doesn't swamp the taupiness of the shadow, but it is still there, giving a bit of a kick. This is the one shade that I've actually tried to wear on my eyes; it's...still a work in progress (see below).

Evocation looking rosy and very similar to Koala (I had a dickens of a time figuring out which swatch was which!)...

Currently Coveting: Jessica Cosmetics Iridescent Eye (from the Peacock Collection) Nail Color

Currently Coveting is a not-daily feature on products that look interesting, whether new releases, cult classics, or something in between!

Iridescent Eye, image via Jessica

Chanel Peridot is a wildly popular nail polish, and with good reason. It's a green-gold-blue metallic duochrome, and it's Chanel. As beautiful as the color is, I cannot justify $26 for a 0.40 oz. Luckily, Jessica Cosmetics has duped Peridot (as well as Quartz and Graphite, the other polishes from Chanel's Illusion d'Ombres collection) perfectly with Iridescent Eye, for a mere $7.50. The PolishAholic recently posted a lovely comparison of Peridot and Iridescent Eye, and Goose's Glitter has swatches and comparisons for the whole Peacock Collection (if you don't follow their blogs, why not?!?!). If you've been lemming the Chanels, Jessica's versions are an excellent, affordable alternative. Shipping is $7.50, which is steep if you just want Iridescent Eye, but pretty awesome if you want the whole collection, since altogether they're only $4 more than one of the Chanel polishes. Methinks I'll add it to my "feeling sad and needing a pick-up/celebratory purchase" shopping list: items I want but can't quite justify without emotional turmoil (in the sense of deviance from the norm).
$7.50 for 0.50 oz, available from Jessica Cosmetics

What do you think of Iridescent Eye? Would you buy this or the Chanel, or do you even like the color at all?

Zoya Zara Nail Polish Review and Swatches

I got this polish lightly used from Steph during her blog sale, and let me tell you, I am just thrilled to death about it. Zara is, in a word, stunning. She's a light cool orchid purple with gold and copper duochrome shimmer.

Zoya Zara

Ross Nail Polish Haulage: Pics and Swatches

I went to Ross yesterday, because Nouveau Cheap posted that a reader had found a set of (long discontinued) Sally Hansen Nail Prisms, and, being the duochrome whore that I am, I had to go and check out my local Ross to see if I would be lucky enough to find it myself. I not only found the Sally Hansen Nail Prisms, but also picked up a set of Color Club holos and glitters, Beyond the Mistletoe, which is, according to Fashion Polish, new for the season. So, for $14, I walked away with 4 duochromes, 5 holos, 2 glitters, and a top coat. Needless to say, I was hyperactively excited (and tweeted Nouveau Cheap about it, because if anyone can appreciate a good deal, it would be her!). I haven't had the chance to test any of them for wear or anything, but I wanted to get swatches up so you can see what the dealio is, and hopefully get yourself to a Ross to check them out!

Color Club first; the bottles I have don't have names on them, but I got the names from Fashion Polish (who got them from Color Club, so one assumes they're accurate).
ETA: These were $7.99 at Ross, and the Color Club website has them listed at $48.00 ($8 apiece). So, if you're interested in the set, it's definitely worth checking your local Ross!

Beyond the Mistletoe, left to right: Sugarplum Fairy, Beyond the Mistletoe, Holiday Splendor, Jingle Jangle, Candy Cane, Gingerbread

Sugarplum Fairy is a pale lavender holo in a clear base; it's the strongest holo out of all the ones in this set, and it's reeeeeeeally pretty. In some lights it approaches being linear (still wanting a linear holo polish like whoa, though). Very delicate and sparkly, much like a fairy!

We'll pretend it's blurry on purpose, mk? 3 coats Sugarplum Fairy with 1 coat top coat

Beyond the Mistletoe is a light blue holo in a clear base; it's a bit sparser than Sugarplum Fairy and not quite as holographic, but very close.

3 coats Beyond the Mistletoe with 1 coat top coat

Holiday Splendor is a subtle green holo in a green tinted base. This one's not nearly as sparkly as SF and BtM, but it's really, really green, which definitely makes up for it. I'm thinking I may need to wear this for my next Duck manicure...I can pair it with Gingerbread and be super glittery and awesome!

3 coats Holiday Splendor with 1 coat top coat

Essence Holographics.Com LE Nail Polish in Prism@tic White Review and Swatches

Essence came out with a "holographic" collection (scare quotes because the products were not, in fact, actually holographic, but rather duo/multichrome, a distinction apparently lost on the German brand) a few months ago, and I happened to come across a small display of some of the products in Ulta a few weeks ago.  I decided to only pick up one polish, Prism@tic White (stupid name, guys), that I thought I could use for wintry-themed nails and to layer over other polishes.  I decided to wear it over black to start with, because I knew its duochromeness would show up better over a dark polish.

Essence Prism@tic White