Manis Galore

This is China Glaze- Gamer Glam from the Spring 2011 Tronica collection. It is a light purple subtle holo. I just loved this.

I only got one picture of it in the sun while driving (and unfortunately it chipped quickly on one nail). Like most holos, it applied in thin coats and required three coats to be opaque.

Next is a Spanish combo! Amy's Nail Boutique- Fiesta is layered over OPI- Dulce de Leche. These shades work really well together.

Fiesta is composed of medium sized matte multi-colored hex glitter in a clear base. I only used one coat of it because I really liked Dulce de Leche. It applied fairly evenly utilizing a dabbing motion. 

Here it is indoors with the flash

Indoors without the flash

Here is OPI- Dulce de Leche indoors with the flash. It was released as part of OPI's Fall 2002 European collection. I believe it is now a permanent shade. It's a nude creme with a pink tint. The formula was great and it had a smooth, opaque application in two coats. This was taken indoors with the flash.

Indoors with the flash

Now this is a legit gold mani. I layered OPI- Man with the Golden Gun over A-England- Holy Grail. I wore this for four days. It lasted a long time without chipping, plus it was so gorgeous, I didn't want to remove it.

OPI-Man with the Golden Gun is composed of real 18 karat gold flakes suspended in a clear base. It is slightly different from the Sephora by OPI Gold Flake topcoat. I prefer this one over the $OPI because the gold flakes are larger.

Man with the Golden Gun was released with OPI's Holiday 2012 Skyfall collection. I had difficulty tracking this one down at Ulta, and my mom ordered it for me on ebay.

Taken indoors with the flash, you can see the combination of the gold on gold. Wearing this combination on my nails made me feel very luxurious. 

Here is A-England- Holy Grail on it's on taken indoors with the flash. I adore gold nail polish, and I own quite a few; but this may be one of my favorites. It is truly like an old, antique gold with a yellow shimmer.

Indoors without the flash. Impressive formula! It only needed two thin coats for opacity.

Next is Wicked Polish- Gangrene. This was released as part of the Pestilence collection (which is one of my favorite themes!) It is composed of small and large bright yellow and medium green neon glitter suspended in a milky white base. Indoors, the glitter was somewhat difficult to see, but in outdoor lighting, you can see it fairly well.

This picture was taken indoors with the flash. This polish was somewhat sheer and needed three coats in order to be opaque. I had no issues with distributing the glitter evenly.

Indoors without the flash- It's very difficult to see the glitter here. You can only really see the green.

Next up is Claire's- I Luv the 80's. This is one of those layered polishes. It's composed of multiple colors and it is intended to create a marbled or color swirled effect on the nail. I was very intrigued with how the bottle looked. There is actually a sticker that says "Do not shake" on the bottle cap.

Although the effect of this is pretty cool, I was somewhat disappointed because I expected all of the colors in the bottle to show up on my nails. You can't even see the green or purple at all. The top color in the bottle appears to be orange, but it's actually a bright yellow and pink that got mixed together from using the polish. I tried my best to make sure that the bottle wasn't disturbed, but the colors mixed together somehow. I'm not a huge fan of orange (it's pretty, but I prefer other colors.) I used three coats of this, and the effect was hard to see unless you looked at it up close. It also chipped fairly quickly because without topcoat it had a matte-like finish due to being a neon.

I was absolutely in love with this combo. This is Dollish Polish- The Koopa King layered over Claire's- Earthy/Happy. The Koopa King is part of the Mario Brothers collection. I love anything that has to do with Mario, so I was all over this collection. Earthy/Happy is a mood polish from Claire's and it changes colors according to temperature. In this picture, the polish is green; so I'm guessing that's the Earthy color.

Earthy/Happy shifts from a kelly green to neon yellow. I captured a good picture of this changing. It looks like a sponged on mani almost! This worked really well a a base color for The Koopa King, since that shade was inspired by Bowser. The Koopa King was filled with various colors and shapes of glitter. My favorites were the black thin bar glitter and the prismatic silver diamond shaped glitters. It applied evenly and I only used one coat because I didn't want to hide the color-changing polish.

Here's a picture of Earthy/Happy on it's own taken indoors with the flash. It dried to a matte finish since the color was neon. With the flash it's a bright green. The color-changing effect didn't really kick in until this polish had a couple hours to dry. After that, it started shifting like crazy!

Here's a picture of Earthy/Happy indoors without the flash. It looks completely different than the picture with the flash. This is not a color accurate picture at all. This shade only needed two coats.

This is Essence- Gleam in Blue. It is a light blue shimmer. I actually don't own another blue like this.

This only needed two coats, and it came out to a nice, smooth finish. I'm a fan of the Essence Colour & Go mini bottles. You can find them for $1-$2 at Ulta. Definitely worth it for the quality of polish that you get!

Last, I have an old gem. This is Covergirl- Ghost layered over China Glaze- Jungle Queen. Covergirl crackles are a treat for collectors of vintage nail polish. They were the first crackles produced by a major nail polish brand. The effect is different than the new shatters released a couple years ago. I believe that these were released in the early 2000s. This was around the time I was in middle school. I remember walking to the drugstore near my school after class for the day with friends and admiring the crackle polish and thinking "What science is this?!". Unfortunately I didn't have any money at the time, so I didn't buy it. I was able to snag this beauty on ebay in a lot! 

Application of this is similar to the newly-produced crackles. You have to wait for the base color to dry completely, and then apply the crackle in one even coat. I noticed that you have to put this type of crackle on a little bit thinner if you want it to crack more. This crackle takes much more time to dry. It also chips off quicker than the new crackle, but it's definitely worth time! I got many compliments on this. I believe Barry M has a crackle out called Croc Effects and the Kleancolor Crackles crack like this also.

China Glaze- Jungle Queen was my base color. This was taken indoors without the flash. It is a gorgeous plum color with a subtle shimmer. The shimmer is very hard to see. Wearing this under crackle, you could not see it at all. I'm glad I took these pictures beforehand. Jungle Queen was released as part of China Glaze's Fall 2012 On Safari collection. 

With the flash, you can see how the shimmer looks in different lighting. This had a flawless application in two coats.

A Week of Zoyas!

For the past week, I wore Zoya nail polish. Although I managed to keep up with changing my polish color every day, I fell behind on updating. This is a mass post of the week and it's very pic-heavy. Enjoy.

First I have Zoya- Indigo. This is an older one, which was part of the Fall 2007 Downtown Collection. It has not been discontinued. Although I absolutely love dark navy blues, this one didn't play well with my Seche Vite and shrunk a bit. I was also a little bit disappointed that the scattered prismatic microglitter only showed up in the bottle instead of on the nail.

Here it is indoors without the flash. Application was very smooth and it needed two coats. I'm sure I would love this if I tried it with a different topcoat.

Here it is indoors without the flash.

Next is Aurora. Aurora is from this past holiday's Ornate collection and it is a beaut! It is a magenta filled with holo particles. The holo isn't linear, but more scattered; but I am fine with that.

In some lighting this looks magenta and in others it looks like a light purple. I received so many compliments on this shade.

Application was a breeze and it only needed two coats.

Indoors without the flash.

Indoors with the flash.

This is a special one! It is a jelly sandwich with Zoya- Katharine and China Glaze- Make a Spectacle. Make a Spectacle is from last Halloween's Wicked collection. It is filled with irridescent glitter. I had a lot of fun with this mani!

I used two coats of Make a Spectacle. One coat was sandwiched in between layers of Katharine and the second one was on the top.

Here's a picture of what it looks like indoors without the flash.

I took a picture after applying two coats of Katharine. It is a jelly, so the sheer effect is to be expected. It's like a grape color.  I got Katharine in the Peter Some NYFW gift box, but it was re-released last fall as part of the Gloss collection.

You can see how stained my nails are with the flash!

I applied two coats of Katharine, one coat of Make a Spectacle, and one more of Katharine over that. This is what it looked like with the flash.

without the flash

Zoya- Chyna is my first Pixie Dust that I have tried and I absolutely love these! They have a sandy texture effect and you're not supposed to use topcoat with them. It is a classic red with textured twist.

Although this was completely opaque in two coats, I added a third one just to make the texture more gritty. I was a little bit apprehensive about not being able to use a topcoat, because I use Seche Vite religiously, but it didn't take that long to dry. It remained tacky for at least a half hour, but it wasn't as easily smudged or messed up like a regular polish would be. I recommend doing your nails with these right before you watch a movie or something that doesn't require the use of your hands.

This wore very well, and since I didn't use a glue base coat, I was dreading the removal. I used pure acetone, and it was actually easier than removing glitter. It was still rather tricky, but it was worth the price for wearing this polish.

For some reason my thumb turned out the best in terms of the textured effect. Pardon my car picture.

indoors with the flash

Traci is from the Summer 2012 Beach collection. I absolutely love greens! This is a more subdued lime green with a very subtle shimmer.

It had a wonderful formula and it was so glossy. It applied flawlessly in two coats and dried very quickly.

Taken indoors without the flash.

The last one of Zoya week is Jo. Jo is from the Spring 2009 Twist Collection. It is a Periwinkle with a subtle shimmer.

In different angles, it looks like a darker blue. The formula of this one was very similar to Tracie. It had a smooth application, and dried quickly and smooth with two easy coats.

Indoors without the flash

Indoors with the flash. You can really see the shimmer in this one!