Polish or Perish

China Glaze Ingrid

2012-02-27T05:01:00.000-08:00

I really wanted to call this 'Astrid'. I'm playing too much Skyrim.

This one is YDKJ's fraternal twin. The base colour is very similar but all the gold shimmer shot through this makes it a lot warmer on the nail. This was my favourite from the Vintage Vixen collection and it's still a winner in my book.

I think this was two coats plus top coat. Very easy to apply and wears well, too. Such a lovely polish!

Teeez Cool

2012-02-26T07:00:00.000-08:00

(2 coats)

This is a little too candy color for my liking. But if you like holos, I'm sure it's a must own.

New fav toe colour - OPI Sparkle-icious

2012-02-24T07:00:00.001-08:00

You may know that I love to wear gold glitter polishes on my toes - especially in winter. It really perks me up when I get home and pull my feet out of my shoes and socks and my toes twinkle back at me. I found a new favourite toe colour, and I thought I'd share. Like another fav, Bring on the Bling (see with other golds here, and flinty's great pics of it here), this is from the Burlesque collection - Sparkle-icious.

I felt a little crazy putting this on my fingers to show you guys, but there is no way I would subject you (and crazy foot fetishists out there) to my poor feet. This one is almost like Mardi Gras, but the overall effect is still quite gold from a distance. In other words, I like.

I'm trying to wear all my gold glitters now - when spring comes I'll be doing pastel or bright cremes (with the occasional navy)!

kittytokaren

Illamasqua Snap

2012-02-23T04:33:00.000-08:00

This is absolutely the colour of HB pencils. The stripey yellow and black ones you use at primary school, before you're allowed to graduate to pens, with their greater potential for indelible inky disaster. This polish resulted in some serious flashbacks! (By the way, yes, those are gloves - it hasn't made it over freezing for the last week or so, and I'm feeling the cold).

One coat, plus top coat (which really didn't want to play ball, hence the giant cuticle gaps). Applied itself, practically. Plus I got it for a song (£4.50!) courtesy of the Illamasqua sale, plus clubbing together with one of my girlfriends to get over their free postage threshold, plus my loyalty discount. There are many really crappy things about living in the UK (the weather, Dale Winton, the strange compulsion to mash everything that looks like a vegetable before eating it) but cheapo Illamasqua sales is a good 'un.

What nail polish takes you back?

Unexpected Results

2012-02-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

I skyped with my mom and showed her my untrieds and she chose this one for me to wear.

#11

(2 coats)

I really loved this. I was thinking I would feel ho-hum about it. I am completely utterly over turquoise/teal/cyan/whatever. Ugh. And I'll take a creme over a shimmer any day. However, there is something about this. It reminded me of a teal Project Runway. Loved.

Mercurial

(3 coats)

I was SURE I would love this. It looked amaze on kmalladi. But no dice. So far the only Lynnderella I've LOVED is Gotta Love Brains. Oh well - it's hard to please a creme girl with glitter so I blame myself.

A symbol of home - OPI A Roll in the Hague

2012-02-19T07:00:00.002-08:00

Behold, the only polish I will be keeping from the OPI Holland collection!

A Roll in the Hague is a super super bright bordering-on-neon-but-not-quite orange. The formula was actually fantastic.

I grew up in Holland, just outside of the Hague. I will always consider it home, and while this polish isn't exactly my normal fare, I'm going to keep it and love it a.) for the name and b.) because it's classic Dutch orange! I am totally wearing this during EuroCup. Totally.

Hup Holland, hup!

kittytokaren

Nails Inc. Chelsea

2012-02-18T07:00:00.000-08:00

(2 coats)

Believe it or not, this isn't black. It's very very very dark red.

OPI How's It Snowin

(2 coats)

Throwing in this mani as an extra since the chips make it unacceptable. I LOVE this color. The glitter is so dense and k2k makes it looks flawless. However, the wear is horrible. This was taken less than 12 hours later. It's not a surprise, super dense glitters chip like crazy, but be warned: beauty fades.

GOSH Groovy Grey and some stash pictures

2012-02-17T05:11:00.000-08:00

A lovely warm mushroomy grey. This is very opaque and totally good in two coats - it would probably be OK in one, but it has that annoying thick but runny formula that makes it really hard to control. I think this is probably pretty close to Lippmann's waking up in vegas, but not owning it (her polishes are a bit beyond my means sadly) I can't really say. I'm such a sucker for this kind of colour - they work really well on my skintone (except when it's -3 out and I look like a chapped lobster...I think my swatches are going to look like this for a while).

I wore this to one of the interviews I went with last month. I made reserve for the fellowship, which is pretty cool given there were almost 250 applicants. I've spent the last couple of days filling in the application for the University itself, which was 15 pages of probably unnecessary hell, but at least it's done now. Something for the CV!

That aside, I got asked on a message board recently what my stash looked like. So I thought I'd take some pics. To spare you the huge post, though, they're under the jump. I like to think it's a very moderate amount, but my mother would probably disagree.

China Glaze Cling On (Magnetix)

2012-02-16T07:03:00.000-08:00

I have been waiting so long for magnetic polishes to come back into style. My darling L'Oreal Star Magnets were my pride and joy and I was afraid of using them because... well, magnetic polish wasn't so very common. But now... now we're getting a bunch. And it's been fabulous.

So far, I've been pretty impressed with the ChG Magnetix collex. I didn't buy the entire thing sight unseen (I learned my lesson from the LA Girl Glitters...) but I did pick up three and the magnet (of course). So far, they've exceeded my expectations. I am in love!

China Glaze Cling On

First of all... haha, the name. Second, mmmm.... mossy green magnetic polish. I'm sure others have documented the process of applying the polish (one nail at a time, I prefer to do two coats of polish, and hold the magnet for 10 seconds). This is one of three designs: it's supposed to be chevron-like and it turns out like that... when I don't somehow misplace the magnet and get only half my nail (which then just looks dumb). Wear was fantastic for the two days that I had it on: didn't chip, didn't shrink, looked great til the end (although the end came quickly). My heart was sinking when I was applying it: it looked streaky, pearly and sheerish. But then the magnet changed it all! The pearly metallic moved so nicely into the chevron-ish pattern, leaving behind a mossy jelly color. So it's kind of minty green metallic interspersed with moss jelly. Pretty damn awesome!

Closeup of Cling On

A bit of a valentine - Chanel Distraction

2012-02-15T07:00:00.004-08:00

I wasn't expecting to own this polish, but through a series of odd circumstances, I now do.

And I really, really like it! (I now consider it a Valentine's Day present to myself.)

Chanel Distraction...

Part of the aptly-timed and holiday-appropriate Rose Ultimes de Chanel, this is a gorgeous coral polish with fuchsia shimmer. I tried to use a bit of flash to show the shimmer, but I didn't do the best job. I also feel like it looks more pink in the photo - it leans more coral in reality - but the truth is that the colour changes dramatically in different lights.

I adore coral polishes, and with the added shimmer this one seems to have something a little extra going on. The closest polish I have to the base colour is Essie Carousel Coral (see a pic of that next to some other corals here). Here are some swatches to compare:

L-R: Essie Carousel Coral, Chanel Distraction, OPI My Chihuahua Bites

Whether you celebrate Valentine's Day or not, I hope each and every one of you gets the chance to do something nice for yourself this month!

kittytokaren

Sally Hansen Sequin Scandal

2012-02-14T07:00:00.000-08:00

(2 coats)

I bought 6 Sally Salons on ebay just to get this color and this ended up being one of my least favorite ones! It's just kind of eh for me. But goodness is the Salon formula wonderful.

The worst French ever

2012-02-13T11:49:00.000-08:00

I had a disaster of a time trying to apply this. I had a job interview the next day so I decided that the thing I absolutely had to have to look professional was a French manicure. Something I haven't tried in a year but obviously thought would be easy peasy. IT WASN'T. It was difficult difficult lemon difficult*.

First I tried stickers. Painstakingly applied base coat and one coat of an Essie sheer. Left it overnight. Applied stickers and..ripped off the polish in chunks. Swore a bit, took it all off, started again. Applied Base coat and one of polish, very carefully freehanded tips, painted over the top...didn't leave enough time and streaked the tips. !@£$%?.

So this was the third attempt. Nails Inc Kensington Caviar base coat, two coats OPI creme of crete for tips, and two of OPI samoan sand for over the top. I refreshed it with some TC before I took these. It looks nice, but it'll probably be another year before I voluntarily go through that again.

*I will give a prize to the first person to get this reference.

Sadz. OPI Did You 'ear About Van Gogh?

2012-02-11T07:00:00.001-08:00

I grew up in the Netherlands, so naturally I've been pretty excited about the OPI Holland collection for spring. However, I only ended up getting two of the polishes - the rest weren't really up my alley. Despite that, I'm still proud of how the collection looks as a colour story! I think it captures Holland pretty nicely! I'm just sad there wasn't much for me personally...

And even this pick didn't work out - I was so excited about it as I love neutrals and am an art geek. I give you the disappointment that is...OPI Did You 'ear About Van Gogh?

Neutral, grey-ish, putty shade. Totally my thing, right? Wrong. This picture is actually a flattering version of what it looks like in reality. In some lights, it looks like the above photo and doesn't clash horribly with my skin tone. However, in most lights, it looks horrible. It has kind of a greenish/yellowish cast which really really does not suit my pale pale pale (oh so pale) yellow skin. Even though I don't own it anymore (as it looks like death on me), I am highly suspicious that this polish is incredibly close to, or perhaps a dupe for Essie Sand Tropez. Can anyone confirm?

Sigh. Pretty disappointed. Never fear, the next post of mine will show you the one polish from OPI Holland that I will keep, love and treasure forever!

kittytokaren

Catrice New York, H&M Hunt Me Down

2012-02-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

A couple dusty colors from the lovely IceRozie

(2 coats)

Lovely formula.

(2 coats)

Not so lovely formula. Slightly lighter version of Sew Psyched without the shimmer.

A lot of big "meh": some LA Girl Glitter Addict swatches

2012-02-09T15:08:00.000-08:00

I really love LA Girl polishes. They are generally inexpensive (especially if you catch a good Cherry Culture deal) and awesome (even if a little slow to dry sometimes). So I was ecstatic when I heard about the Glitter Addict collection. Ordered the whole thing on impulse before I saw many swatches. And I'm kind of annoyed at myself because now I just have a lot of new layering polishes (and I don't really like layering polishes). Without exception, all the glitters are suspended in clear jelly.

LA Girl Synergy over Orly Frisky

Gold hex glitter shows up as kind of holo in the bottle but is very sparse. And the holo doesn't really seem to show up unless in direct sunlight. Two layers.

LA Girl Celebrate

Celebrate... what exactly? Sparse multicolored small and large hex glitter. The above is... I think it was five layers? At least it was interesting to look at and might be cute over a black or white polish.

Closeup of Celebrate

LA Girl Euphoria over Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud

Lavender glitter with lavender and holo hex glitter. This one looked fabulous in the bottle: the combination of lavender and holo was stunning. On the nail, not so much. Four layers.

LA Girl Flamboyant over Orly Fresh

I actually liked this one a lot. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because it looked like an ordinary orange glitter/orange hex glitter combo in the bottle and maybe because by this time, I had my expectations dialed down to zero. So when this came out looking as expected (two sizes of sparse orange glitter), I wasn't disappointed. Four layers.

Illamasqua Velocity

2012-02-08T11:41:00.000-08:00

Another one of Illamasqua's one coat wonders. This is one coat of Velocity, no top coat. It is, as a colourful local turn of phrase goes, a piece of piss to apply. Somewhere between a plum-lavender-grey, this is unique in my stash and is such a nice combination of OTT and subtle.

It looks even nicer with two coats and a topcoat, but when a lazy day manicure looks like that with so little effort, why bother?

To Keep Or Not To Keep

2012-02-06T07:00:00.000-08:00

I'm on the fence about these two - the colors bore me a bit but the formula on both are so beautiful (almost one-coaters) that I can't let them go that easily.

CND Indian Rhubarb

(2 coats)

Deep red with a touch of brown.

Essence Green Grass

(2 coats)

This isn't a boring color per se. But I just have SO many colors like it. But I don't have any exact dupes unfortunately. If I did, I'd get rid of whatever is in my stash and replace it with this because the formula is perfect.

So what do you think? Get rid of them both in my continued bid to shed the polish pounds?

How to drive a manicure over the edge: Orly Rock Solid... with LA Girl Inspire... with Color Club Smash Hit

2012-02-05T06:18:00.000-08:00

This is what happens you're lazy and easily bored like I am. Let this be a lesson to you all.

Orly Rock Solid

Part of Orly's Mineral FX collection, it looked so promising in the bottle. Black with strong silver shimmer and a heck ton of holo glitter. HECK TON. Yet it was kind of flat (and somewhat gritty) on the nail. The black shimmer ate the glitter almost entirely. Three coats.

Closeup of Rock Solid

LA Girl Glitter Addict Inspire over Orly Rock Solid

But I really wanted a glitter manicure that day, yet was loath to take off Rock Solid. So I decided to try out one of the LA Girl Glitter Addicts on top of it. (Btw, that collection was the most disappointing LA Girl collections ever but we can discuss that another time.) There seem to be two types of pink glitter: magenta and this old-fashioned rosy pink that seems to be the go-to pink glitter. Inspire was the latter and, as is usual for this type of pink glitter, it doesn't look so hot. I figured the polish wasn't going to be opaque so I might as well have a bit of contrast going by putting it over a dark polish, right? (Wrong.) Turns out, Inspire was even more sparse than anticipated: the above is three coats and the Rock Solid is still very visible.

Closeup of the mess

Color Club Smash Hit over LA Girl Glitter Addict Inspire and Orly Rock Solid

Having NOT learned my lesson -- and now having the double disincentive of removing a dark polish AND glitter -- I decided that I might as well layer on a polish that was sent to me by Color Club: Smash Hit, a black crackle. And I actually liked it better with the crackle than without. Still and all, it was pretty damn fug.

Closeup of the coup de grace...

At this point, I had eleven layers of polish on my nails (bc, 3 Rock Solid, tc, 3 Inspire, tc, Smash Hit, tc). Well, this was just ridiculous. And kind of very unattractive. After I took this photo, I waited for the entire thing to dry and then peeled off the monstrosity off of all ten nails. (I know, I know. Gross. When you have that much polish on, once dry, it really just pops off with a little nudge.) Would it have been easier to just remove Rock Solid when I realized that I didn't like it? Probably.

So. Obsessed. - Essie A Crewed Interest

2012-02-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

The Essie spring collection for this year has all finance-based names. Weird, but kind of cool? Nail polish sales have been up since the recession hit so maybe this is Essie's way of acknowledging it? Either way, whatever this polish is named after, I love it.

Essie A Crewed Interest...

A kind of mod colour with a lot of white in the base, this peachy-pink colour really struck a chord with me. I seriously stood there in front of my mirror with my hands next to my face trying to figure out what about it seemed so familiar. And then it hit me! It's the same colour as my absolute favourite, number 1, I'm-totally-obsessed-with-it blush - NARS Sex Appeal! You can see from the amount of pan how much I love this thing.

Suffice to say that despite A Crewed Interest's not-so-awesome formula - runny, doesn't seem to cover well, can be streaky - I will be wearing this *all the time* in spring and summer. I am so serious with you right now. I find that if I let each coat dry really well and wear a good ridge-filling base coat, the formula problems are minimized. And so worth it. Besides, who doesn't like accruing a little interest - even if it's just attention and not money?

What polish are you expecting to wear a lot this spring?

kittytokaren

Sally Hansen strobe light

2012-02-03T06:01:00.000-08:00

A very dear friend of mine who moved to the US recently sent me a parcel. Rather than putting chocolate in the parcel as a throw in (I've been spoiled by the good stuff) she put some Sally Hansen nail polish in there. I squealed a lot when I opened the package! I've never tried SH, so I was keen to put this on ASAP.

I love the colour. The only difficulty I had was knowing what to put it over, since it's sheer. Here I used two coats of OPI Skull & Glossbones underneath, and I would in retrospect have chosen something different for the basecoat. Over that is three coats of glitter and one of Seche Vite.

The only difficulty I had is that the coverage is quite sheer (I assume it's meant for layering, rather than opaque colour) and the base is thick, so I used a lot of the bottle on one mani. I hope I don't use it up before I work out the perfect base coat colour!

Neon Red

2012-02-02T07:00:00.000-08:00

(2 coats)

The Neon Red promised from American Apparel was a misnomer. The true color: Imagine a neon pink that is not a bright, screaming bubblegum pink; it's more subdued and a bit darker and has a touch of orange in it. Like a very pink-leaning neon coral. That's what American Apparel's Neon Red was.

That's not to say it isn't a great polish. A wonderful, smooth formula that dries to a satin finish rather than the chalky matte. It applies nicely and is even in two coats.

(2 coats)

Now this is a neon red if I do say so myself! This is a franken I made by mixing about 50% neon orange (traffic cone orange) with 50% a classic fire engine red jelly.

I forgot I had this. Can't wait to break out this summer.

The reason I have so much polish: LA Girl Glitter Addict Explosion and OPI Crown Me Already comparison

2012-02-01T23:45:00.000-08:00

I wonder sometimes why I have so much nail polish. And when I go to de-dupe my collection, it is very obvious to me why I do.

LA Girl Glitter Addict Explosion & OPI Crown Me Already

Looks pretty similar, right? Silver hex glitter and silver glitter suspended in clear polish. I figured I could get rid of one of them (if not both).

LA Girl Glitter Addict Explosion (index/ring) & OPI Crown Me Already (middle/pinky)

over Orly Rock Solid

When I applied them side by side... sigh. I see them as very different creatures. Not only do they contain different sizes of small glitter and hex glitter (Explosion has bigger glitter than Crown Me Already), they apply very different as well.

Closeup of Explosion

Explosion is pretty clumsy and clumpy. It doesn't go on that smoothly (because it has bigger glitter) and it takes a bit of finagling to get even vaguely consistent coverage. The above shows three coats. If I wanted it to be opaque, I could've added one more coat... and spent an extra ten minutes finagling.

Closeup of Crown Me Already

In comparison, Crown Me Already goes on very smoothly (due to the smaller, more easily manipulated glitter) but is much more suited to being a layering polish. The above shows four coats. If I wanted it to be totally opaque, six coats would probably do it.

Another really striking difference is that when I went to remove the polish shortly after taking these photos, Explosion was still entirely wet and came off easily. Crown Me Already actually needed a little muscle to be removed.

My final verdict? They are different. I like them both. Therefore, I need both. ...and this is how one accumulates too much nail polish.

For Leisel - Essie Go Overboard vs. OPI Ski Teal We Drop

2012-01-31T18:24:00.000-08:00

Lovely reader Leisel asked for a side by side comparison of Essie Go Overboard (which I shared with you today) and OPI Ski Teal We Drop! I snapped a quick pic for you guys and I hope you can see the differences/similarities! To my eye, the Essie is lighter and *slightly* more green.

OPI Ski Teal We Drop is on the top, Essie Go Overboard on the bottom.

Hope this helps someone!

kittytokaren

I did go a little overboard - Essie Go Overboard

2012-01-31T07:00:00.000-08:00

Ahhhhhh I just couldn't resist! I told myself that Armed and Ready was the only polish I was going to get from the Go Overboard collection, but when I saw the collection's namesake in reality, I had to get it. Some of the swatches I've seen of this make it seem like a bright teal, which is pretty unwearable for me. In person, or at least on me, it's actually a rather deep teal. It never ever looks black, which is perfect, but it's still a darker shade. It's like OPI Ski Teal We Drop- which I currently have on my toes! - just lighter.

The formula was truly excellent! Went on easily and covered like a dream - either one thick coat or two thin ones worked for me.

Just curious...but what are you wearing on your toes right now?

kittytokaren

Illamasqua Raindrops

2012-01-30T07:00:00.001-08:00

Hamina hamina hamina

(2 coats)

It is a rare polish indeed that is your #1 lemming for a year and a half and meets your expectations. Unlike P2 Stormy, this one just KILLED me. This color exactly my taste: pale, jelly, edgy. And there's a lovely fine sparkle.

This is another prezzy from the glorious IceRozie. Thank you thank you thank you. I have wanted this forever and now she's mine and she's perfect. I die.