Baroness X Poison Apple

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  I see red.

  The lovely Demi of Baroness X graciously noted my love of all things crimson and offered to send me a bottle of Poison Apple, a deep and delectable brown-red from her Snow White collection.  How could I say no?  This thing is gorgeous.  And is it just me, or does this work as a Marsala polish, too?

Baroness X Poison Apple

Zoya Ryan With Zoya Bar Accents

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  Hi all!!  I've got something short and sweet this morning.  Over the weekend I found myself venturing to Ulta for a new tube of primer and finishing powder.  As I was checking out, I (naturally) noticed the cashier's nails-- they were done in a dark blue creme with s champagne gold glitter accent.  I have kind of a skewed view of what anything involving two or more colors looks like on me but this duo I felt particularly drawn to, somehow.  My version is done with Zoya Ryan, a dark midnight blue jelly from the Entice collection, with an accent of Zoya Bar, a sparkling nude texture polish from the summer 2014 Magical Pixie collection.

Zoya Ryan With Zoya Bar Accents

Essie Winter 2014-- Back In the Limo

  Good morning, guys and gals!!  Does Essie always put their winter collection out this early, or am I just noticing it this year?  At any rate, it's here, six shades of classic Essie, but with an atypical twist-- it's a lot of pink, a lot of coral, and, with the exception of a blue-red that may or may not be identical to Fall 2014's Dress To Kilt {HERE}, and a lovely champagne foil (imminent), a lot of sheer.

  Something about Essie's winter collections call to my mind elegant, expensive holiday parties and this year's is warm, festive, and pristine, thrown in some big, white, chandeliered room.  Like many Essies, the names in this set are cheeky and pretentious and I usually hold that against a polish, but these colors spoke to me and despite the flak that this collection has gotten/will likely continue to get, I think it's pretty brilliant.

  My first choice is Back In the Limo, a blushed peach/soft shell pink jelly.

Essie Winter 2014-- Back In the Limo

Zoya Ultra PixieDusts Fall 2014

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Zoya Ultra PixieDusts Fall 2014

  Hello and happy first day of Fall!  The Zoya Ultra PixieDusts are here, gorgeous texture polishes in red, wine, and berry tones, and sporting a brand new formula.  Like the preceding Magical PixieDusts (summer 2014 collection {HERE}), these three are jelly based, sparkling, and packed with glitter, rather than the shimmer of the originals (fall 2013's Dhara and Arabella swatched {HERE}); unlike the Magicals, the Ultras feature tonal, metallic small round and larger hex glitters, giving each a glamorous and amped up monochromatic appearance. The Ultras aren't as chunky as the Magicals; the texture bits seem fewer and finer.  With the exception of Noir, for some reason, the Ultras much easier to remove; pigmentation is better, also, and each of these polishes is beautiful in two coats.

WetnWild Eggplant Frost

  Hello, everyone!!  One of my first major polish lems was Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Burgundy Orchid {HERE} and {HERE}, lol.  It is gorgeous in every sense of the word but the top photo in {THIS POST} from Munia's Nails has haunted me these years because that dark blue to red to purple flash does not occur without flash photography.  It's a color I've not been sure I'd find because of current nail polish trends.  Enter WetnWild Eggplant Frost, a 99¢ dealie from the Wild Shine line, one that I've seen around but not paid much attention to until a fellow polish lover posted about it in one of my facebook groups (follow her, MyOrdinaillyLife, on instagram {HERE}).  

WetnWild Eggplant Frost

piCture pOlish Solar Flare

  Good morning, all!!  Cooler weather means duochrome season is upon us and despite my love for eye searing holos, I can't WAIT!!  But first, as morning and evening cools and the daytime is still sweltering, let us revel in the amazing hybrid polish creation that is... the Duochrome Holo.  Observe piCture pOlish Solar Flare.

piCture pOlish Solar Flare

Gloss N Sparkle Symmetry, Above Deck, and Harlot

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Gloss N Sparkle Symmetry, Above Deck, and Harlot

  Hi everyone!  Gloss N Sparkle is a new to me Aussie indie line of gorgeous effects polishes.  I'm excited to show you three of their core line.

Zoya Entice-- Fall 2014

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Zoya Entice-- Fall 2014

  

  Hi everyone!!  Entice is the classic creme finish half of Zoya's Fall 2014 collections.  You know cremes are my jam, lol, and Zoya's fall cremes are the ones I look forward to all year long.  Let's get started.

Zoya Ignite-- Fall 2014

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Zoya Ignite collection, Fall 2014

  Hi all!!  I'm back from my self-imposed break a week early because when you've got gorgeousness like the Zoya Ignite collection staring at you every time you walk into your living room, it's extremely hard to resist wanting to wear those suckers right away (and talk about them, lol).  So I'm not fully used to my nubs again/yet but the fact is, there is not a shape these colors won't look spectacular on.

  Zoya describes the finishes in this set as liquid metal, but they're unlike any metallic I've ever seen.  These all have a sort of metallic-jelly hybrid finish, going on sheer with the first coat but balancing out perfectly with two, and each with an abundance of golden and shade-specific glassfleck-like shimmer.  There's so much sparkle in these that my camera had the worst time focusing.  These shades are stunning.  Let's get started.

Butter London Ladybird

  Hi all!!  You know I love RED, but I find it somewhat difficult to wear during the summer, as I'm drawn most to deep and dramatic, especially on nails.  When Butter London announced their exclusive NYFW shade this past February, a juicy tomato red jelly called Ladybird, I about died of excitement, though.  Butter's got a lineup of the most perfect classic reds and I was stoked about this new personality and the warm weather possibilities.  I'm not one to buy Limited Edition polishes, though, so when a dear blogger friend gifted me with Ladybird, I about died of excitement, again, lol (this is a dangerous polish).

Butter London Ladybird

Celestial Cosmetics Trip-- The Electric You Collection, Summer 2014

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  Hi all!!  I seriously cannot bend my mind around the fact that it's almost July.  I actually showed up to work 45 minutes late on Monday because I was certain it was only the 16th and so followed that schedule (muh bad for not switching it out on my cork board where there is also, incidentally, a calendar).  Walking into work to choruses of "Oh THERE you are!" is so much fun, lol.

  Anyway, let's move forward in my latest Celestial Cosmetics holo fest.  I've showed you two of the six neon holos from the upcoming Celestial Cosmetics/Color4Nails collaboration collection, The Electric You (Inception and Merge).  This one is Trip, a totally unique jelly based bright pumpkin linear holo that I can't really classify as neon, even over a white base.  Still, it's a fun color with a typical easy to apply Celestial formula and I dig the name.  Here it is on its own, two coats and one layer of topcoat.

Celestial Cosmetics Trip

Celestial Cosmetics Merge-- The Electric You Collection, Summer 2014

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  Hi all!!  I've got on another smokin' neon holo from Celestial Cosmetics and Color4Nails summer 2014 collaboration collection, The Electric You.  This one is Merge, a beautiful, bright rosy pink jelly based linear holo.  Shown two coats under one layer of topcoat.  I think this is just about the prettiest holo I've seen so forgive the amount of photos you're about to see, lol.  The formula is textbook Celestial, minimal cleanup, practically applying itself.

Celestial Cosmetics Merge

 

Celestial Cosmetics Inception-- The Electric You Collection, Summer 2014

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  Hi all!!  I feel another Celestial Cosmetics holofest coming on ;) This Aussie indie polish brand  is one of my very favorite indies for their wide array of gorgeous linear holo shades with perfect formulas.  Celestial and etailer Color4Nails have teamed up again to bring us a collaborative summer collection of neon holos, called The Electric You.  

  Because these holos are neons, it's suggested that they be worn over a white base.  I found Inception, a jelly based, bright and watery turquoise, to be perfect without (and all's the better without the telltale line of white that tends to peek through at the cuticle line).  I used two coats of Inception and one layer of topcoat.

Celestial Cosmetics Inception

Cult Nails Flushed/Max Factor Fantasy Fire Comparison

 Hi everyone!!  I had a request (sort of; it was more like bouncing ideas off and getting a positive response) to do a comparison between two purple polishes with pink shimmer and lots of depth-- Max Factor Fantasy Fire and Cult Nails Flushed.

 

  The differences are obvious as soon as you start working with them.  Index and ring-- Cult Nails Flushed; middle and pinky-- Max Factor Fantasy Fire.
  Flushed is a cream based dusky purple with a subtle, slightly duochrome pink to gold shimmer, thin, but opaque in two coats.
  Fantasy Fire is a bright violet jelly with a very flashy multichrome pink to gold to green shimmer and looks optimal by itself in four coats.

Zoya Bubbly Collection-- Summer 2014

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  Hi all!!  Zoya's been playing around with those holographic glitters we saw in this spring's Magical Pixies, and to marvelous and extrinsic results.  This summer's effects finish collection, called Bubbly, is a set of six jelly based GLASSFLECKS (thank you, Faeries!!!  From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU for another set of glassflecks!), the likes of which haven't been seen since Zoya's Sparkle collection of summer 2010, this time with an extra dimension of color and gleam from the glitters.  That's not where the differences end, though.  The glitters are very small, and while quite obvious, they don't make these polishes troublesomely thick-- rather, they balance out the relative jelly thinness and help make each of these polishes opaque in two, rather than three or more, coats.  Each swatch here is two coats without topcoat. 

SpaRitual Osmium

  Hi all!!  I don't remember what started the conversation (they tend to take many turns) but the crux was that my good friend Melissa didn't like her SpaRitual Osmium polish, and I was dying over the dark, glossy, jelliness, so she sent it to me.  Isn't she sweet?

  SpaRitual has been around for quite a while but it's a new to me brand.  Osmium is from the fall/winter 2012 Metal collection.  Oddly, the packaging states that Osmium is a creme.  It's not.  It's a full-on super dark squishy, glossy, self-leveling teal jelly.  The brush is very small and thin, which aids in application of one so dark, making it easier to control.  This polish is fabulous and applies like a dream.

Cult Nails Feedback + LVX Dahlia

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  Hi everyone!!  Happy Saint Patrick's Day!  I honestly forgot all about it as I was doing my nails last night, so here is my decidedly un-St. Paddy's Day-like manicure.  I will be wearing green elsewhere.

  I'm pretty much in absolute love with Cult Nails Feedback and I really want to wear it over every creme and jelly I own.  Part of Cult Nails' fall 2013 All Access collection, Feedback is a highly irregular pink and gold mylar flakie suspended in a clear base.  One of my favorite duos from that collection is Feedback over the burgundy jelly Lamestain.  I don't have Lamestain, so I grabbed one of my own favorite vampy jellies, LVX Dahlia.  Observe.

Shimmer Jennifer, Jacki, & Adrienne

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  Hi everybody!  I'm filled with a bit of excitement and anxiety right now.  Even though I photo'ed and drafted this post just this week, it feels outdated.  A couple days ago, I broke a couple nails on my swatching hand, so my nails don't look like this right now.  Usually I just grimace and file everything down to an equal length, taper the sides again, and move on, and do so without much fanfare except to whine about my nubbage a little.  Well, this time I noticed that both nails had broken at such an angle that if I shaped them a very certain way, I could still maintain most of the length.  My friends, I have points.  Kitten heels.  Whatever you want to call them.  It's a pretty polarizing shape and it kind of scares me to unveil them on here but it excites me at the same time, because I adore them :) It's like getting a fabulous set of bangs cut into your previously one-length hair, or buying a pair of shoes in a style completely different from yours, and discovering you love them.  But I don't want to spend this entire post talking about my new nails so just know that a change is coming, lol :) :) :) and I hope it doesn't drive anyone away and that I'm totally overthinking it.  I've got one post after this one drafted with my long squares so stay tuned next week!!  Check out my instagram if you haven't already seen it... I took the most recent shot yesterday morning.

  Also, there's a discussion in one of my blogging groups on fb regarding advice you'd give brand new bloggers and there's a lot of "NO CENTER ALIGNING TEXT" going on in there, so I'm giving boring old left to right a shot.  It feels off balance to me but if it's easier to read, then I'm all for it.  Let me know if it's better, worse, or if you don't give two hoots :)

  Right.  On to the polish.  

  Today I get to share my take on some more Shimmer Polish beauties!  Shimmer is an indie brand I've grown increasingly fond of.  It's a line of full coverage and very versatile glitters with very broad appeal.  If you've made a product my 10 year old niece and my monochromatic creme-loving self both adore, I think you're doing something right.

Happy New Year!! Glam Polish Cast A Spell (partial)

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Happy New Year!!  C's been sick for the last week but we stayed up through midnight and rung in 2014 singing to the BeeGees on youtube karaoke, lol.  The best thing about not partying down on new Year's Eve is waking up feeling great, ready to face the day.  I've got lots of prettiness to share with you all within the coming weeks!  I mentioned a couple days ago that there's much awesomeness coming from Glam Polish lately, and the gorgeous Cast A Spell collection is a huge part of that.  I've got two from this mesmerizing collection to share today.

Cast A Spell is a set of five monochromatic scattered holo-shimmer-glitters in tonal jelly bases.  The effect is multidimensionally twinkly, almost glassfleck-like, and as if you're gazing into into a deep and mystical pool.  There's a LOT going on in these, but for all the busyness, the tone on tone quality makes them elegant and very wearable.  These polishes are truly something else.

Conjuring is a dark kelly green.

12 Days of Christmas Nails!! Day 6-- Shimmer Polish Christmas Glitters

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Happy Saturday, friends!!  I've been a long time admirer of, and recent obsessee over, Shimmer Polish, a line of completely gorgeous layering glitters with a sophisticated edge in a spare, elegant package.  When creator Cindy offered to send me some for review, I jumped at the chance.  I was super excited to learn that she's got some full coverage glitters in her lineup, too, and three of them are beautiful, twinkly, festive Christmas perfection.

I'll start with Cristina, an emerald glitter interspersed with red glitters, in an emerald green jelly base.  Cristina is the sheerest of these three, despite how packed with glitter she is.  I used three coats and the end result was a little thick (especially after a good layer of Seche Vite on top to smooth) but the color is smokin'!  It's also greener than my camera wanted to show.  Some gals have problems with purples, I have problems with emerald green shinies.