Fall Faves // Nail Polishes

 
I have been very into fall nails lately and thought I'd share my favorite nail polishes that I have on rotation this fall with you all.

Son zamanlarda tirnaklarimdan sonbaharimsi ojeler eksik olmuyor, bu yuzden de su siralar sevdigim sonbahar ojelerimi sizlerle paylasmak istedim.

Sephora by O.P.I. On Stage, Revlon Facets of Fuchsia, O.P.I. Lincoln Park at Midnight

My absolutely must-have nail polish for fall has been OPI Lincoln Park at Midnight for years. I may be biased as I live in Chicago and this was part of the Chicago collection :) I just have a thing for blackened bases (especially purple!) with micro glitter which Lincoln Park at Midnight exactly is.

Olmazsa olmaz sonbahar ojem, vazgecilmezim, senelerdir OPI Lincoln Park at Midnight. Acababu Chicago'da yasadigim ve bu oje Chicago koleksiyonun bir uyesi oldugu icin olabilir mi? Ama yok, benim karartilmis oje bazlarina (ozellikle morlara!) ve icinde minnak mor pirilti olan ojelere karsi bir hayranligim var, bkz Lincoln Park at Midnight :)

Since adding it to my collection last year (after much scouring and stalking of local drugstores) Revlon's Facets of Fucshia has been an absolute favorite. It has a blackened purple base with big chunks of fucshia hexagonal and much smaller pieces of glitter. Now every beauty has its thorns. This beauty requires 3 coats to get it to be completely opaque. Removal of this nail polish is a very painful process. I think it's the hardest to remove nail polish I have ever encountered in my life. Its beauty justifies the cons though!

Revlon'un Facets of Fucshia'si aldigimdan beri cok severek kullandigim bir oje. Bazi karartilmis mor ve icinde irili ufakli sim dolu olan bu guzel ojenin uygulamasi biraz yorucu cunku opaklik icin 3 kat gerekiyor. Cikarmasi ise tam bir kabus! Hayatimda bu kadar zor cikan bir ojeye daha once rastlamadim. Ama guzelligi paha bicilmez, onun icinde katlaniyorum.

Next, I have On Stage by Sephora by O.P.I. I would describe it as a creamy, smokey mauve/purple. It definitely screams autumn in my opinion. It doesn't have any shimmer or glitter thus making it more wearable for any setting.

Siradaki renk Sephora by O.P.I.'dan On Stage. Kremsi, dumanli leylak/mor. Tipik, sonbahar diye bagiran bir renk bana gore. Icinde sim ve pirilti olmayasi her ortamda kolayca kullanilabilecek bir oje yapiyor kendisini.

Butter London All Hail the Queen, Essence Date with the Night, Orly Rage, Zoya Ibiza

 Orly Rage is a metallic bronze/rose-gold with silver glitter that creates a foil-like effect on nails. I enjoy layering it with Sephora by OPI Traffic Stopper-Copper, my favorite combo this fall, so far!

Metalik, pembe altinla bronz karisimi Orly Rage tirnaklarda folyo etkisi yaratmakta oldukca basarili. Son zamanlarda ozellikle Sephora by O.P.I.'in Traffic Stopper-Copper'i ile beraber kullanmaya bayiliyorum!
For some reason I am not really drawn into nude polishes this fall but I do love my tried and trusted and gorgeous All Hail The Queen by Butter London. It has tiny multi-color micro glitter which aren't visible to the naked eye unless inspected closely.


Nedense bu sonbahar nude ojelere elim bir turlu gitmiyor tabi Butter London'in All Hail The Queen'i haric. Icinde minicik rengarenk simleri olsada dikkatli bakmadikca pek gorunmuyorlar. Her ortamda rahatlikla kullanilabilecek, gunluk bir oje.

One of my newest nail polishes, Essence Date with the Night quickly became a favorite for this fall. It's a metallic pewter which looks great alone or topped with Nails Inc. Sloane Square. Only problem I have with this nail polish is its application which is due to size of the brush.

En yeni ojelerimden Essence Date with the Night hemen favorilerim arasina girmeyi basardi. Metalik ve kursunumsu cok hos bir renk ama surulusu fircanin kucuklugunden dolayi biraz ugrastiriyor. Tek basinada guzel duruyor ama ben Nails Inc.'in Sloane Square'iyle beraber cok seviyorum.

I'm not really a blue nail polish person (I simply don't like the way shades of blue looks with my skin tone or hands) with the exception of Zoya Ibiza which is a shade of blue that nearly looks black. It's a shimmery, blackened navy.

Mavi ojelerle pek aram yoktur aslinda (ellerime ve ten rengime bir turlu yakistiramadigim bir renk, halbuki renk olarak cok severim!) ancak gel gorki Zoya'nin yakindan bakilmadikca siyaha calan ama aslinda cok guzel simli lacivert ojesi Ibiza sonbahar icin vazgecilmezlerim arasinda.

Essie Leading Lady, Flormar #352, Zoya Mata Hari, Sephora by O.P.I. I'm With Brad

Essie Leading Lady definitely screams Christmas in fact it's part of Essie's Winter 2012 collection but I am already rocking this beautiful red with red pieces of glitter. It's too prety not to!

Essie'nin 2012 Kis koleksiyonundan Leading Lady aslinda Noel ve kis diye bagirsada ben simdiden severek kullaniyorum, kisa kendimi alistiriyorum! Kirmizi bazli ve icinde kirmizi minik simleri olan Leading Lady'yi tum kirmizi severlere siddetle tavisye ediyorum!

My classic go-to simple no-fuss red is Flormar's #352. It's a very easy to wear reddish burgundy with no shimmer or glitter. I reach for this a lot when I simply don't know what to paint my nails with.

Tabii ki bir Flormar olmasi gerekiyordu bu postta. O da tam bir klasik bordo/kirmizi 352. Ozellikle
"ay ne sursem" dedigim gunlerde hic dusunmeden elime aldigim renktir kendisi.

Up next is Zoya's Mata Hari, a shimmery dark red with gold sheen. I have wanted a shade like this for ages and finally after many failed attempts I have found it.

Sonuncu favorim ise Zoya'dan Mata Hari isimli simli ve tirnaklara suruldugunde uzerinde altinimsi bir etki yaratan koyu kirmizi bir oje. Ben cok uzun zaman bu rengi aradigim, hic ummadigim bir anda karsima cikti. Biraz hareketli ama abartisiz bir kirmizi arayanlara tavsiye edilir.

Finally we have Sephora by O.P.I.'s I'm With Brad which is a vampy dark brownish red with red shimmer.

What nail polishes are you loving this fall?
Sizin bu sonbahar favori ojeleriniz neler?

Essie Mojito Madness

I have been looking for a nail polish this exact shade of green for such a long time! I didn't even know when Essie is coming out with their summer 2012 collection, then recently stumbled upon it at Target. When I saw this green in the new collection, my heart skipped a beat. The search is finally over!

Cooook uzun zamandir tam boyle bir yesil oje arayisi icindeydim. Essie'nin Yaz 2012 koleksiyonunu ne zaman cikaracagindan haberim bile yoktu, taa ki gecen gun tesadufen Target'ta rastlayana kadar. Bu yesili gorunce, resmen icim gitti, hatta duygulandim diyebilirim cunku sonunda onu buldm ve bir arayis daha sona erdi! 

Essie calls Mojito Madness lime green but I personally think it leans more towards grass green. I think it's such a fun summer nail polish that will also look great on toes. Just like most Essie polishes, Mojito Madness is a breeze to apply. It's in creme finish and has no shimmer, glitter or anything of that sort. It's perfectly opaque after the typical 2 coats. I am wearing a top coat (Seche Vite) in my photo below.

Essie Mojito Madness icin lime (lim? misket limonu?) yesili demis, bence bu renk daha cok cimen yesili gibi. Evet bu guzel rengin tarifi cok zor! Bence cok eglenceli ve tam bir yaz rengi. Henuz denemedim ama ayaklarda da cok hos duracagina eminim. Bircok Essie ojesi gibi, Mojito Madness'inda surulusu gayet kolay. Mojito Madness kremsi bir yapiya sahip ve simsiz. Genel olarak Essie ojelerinde sadece 2 kat istenilen opakligi saglayabiliyor. Insallah bu renk yuzumu kara cikarmaz derken aldim elime fircayi ve surmeye basladim. Sonuc: 2 kat = opaklik. Ayrica 2 katin ustune birde Seche Vite top coat surdum.

On my ring finger nail / Yuzuk parmagimda - Milani Jewel FX Gold

Any colors that tickles your fancy from Essie summer 2012 collection?

Essie'nin Yaz 2012 koleksiyonundan ilginizi ceken/istediginiz renkler?

JULEP Nail Polishes

I have just discovered this brand thanks to MissJenFabulous on YouTube. When she swatched some of her favorites in one of her recent videos, I knew I had to get my hands on some!

Julep Nail Parlor is an actual salon with several locations in beautiful Seattle and surrounding cities (beautiful because I spent some of the most awesome years of my life in Seattle :)) Julep offers a wide range of colors in different finishes. They specialize in "healthy" products meaning their nail polishes are 3-free. They also donate $1 from each nail polish sale to Powered by Girlfriends program that helps support organizations empowered by women!

Anne 

An ultra-saturated violet, as described by Julep. Applies like a dream and only one coat is enough for opacity. Anne's finish is creme semi-matte; I personally am not a fan of matte or semi-matte finishes, so I apply a top coat for some shine! Of all the 3 shades, Anne was the hardest to photograph. In some of my photos, it came out as more of a cornflower-ish periwinkle, just try to imagine it with more violet/purple and less blue. I think the color is the most accurate on the photo taken with flash which is on lower right in my collage above.

Alicia 

Julep describes Alicia as sunny salmon. I agree, it's salmon-y coral/peach in creme finish. Again just like Anne, it passes the one coat opacity test. Application was a breeze.

Pippa 

Ok so I'm on a nude nail polish kick! Pippa is a camel/nude in creme finish. I just knew Pippa would be super close to one of my favorite nude nail polishes which is Essie's Topless & Barefoot. Yes, they are insanely similar. The only difference is application. 

Let's do some math.

1 coat of Pippa = 3 coats of Topless & Barefoot

I personally hate having to do 3 or more coats of any nail polish because it takes forever to dry! Pippa is just a bit more nude than Topless & Barefoot whereas Topless & Barefoot has a tiny bit more pinkness to it. It's nothing a non-nailpolish addict would ever notice but I do :)

I have compared Pippa (L) to Topless & Barefoot (R) on the right photo. I have done 1 coat of Pippa and 3 coats of Topless & Barefoot. They are darn similar! Like I've mentioned above Anne is much more violet/purple in reality. It's just physically impossible to photograph the real color.

Julep, China Glaze, Essie, O.P.I.

Brush is a decent size and very user-friendly. It reminds me a bit of China Glaze brushes. It's just as long as CG and OPI brushes, not as thick as OPI but not as thin as CG. It's safe to say that Julep brushes are right in between. Not even mentioning Essie, I think you can see why!

Verdict!

It's ♥

These nail polishes are just amazing. Pigmentation is out of this world. Only one coat is needed for perfect opacity. Due to that fact, drying doesn't take forever. Naturally one coat dries faster, I'd say in 5 minutes they dry to perfection. I happen to be stuck with bare nails a lot of the times I'm in a hurry. There is no way I can paint my nails (at least 2 coats 99% of the time), have them dry in a timely manner and be on time! I will be absolutely enjoying slapping on a coat of Julep nail polishes when I'm in a hurry from now on! :) I'm so looking forward to trying many more shades!

You can get $15 off on your purchase of $30 or more with the code "GIRLFRIEND", which is what I did. Julep nail polishes retail for $14 for 2.7oz bottles.

Have you tried Julep nail polishes? Any favorites?

*Also check out my Apothica giftcard giveaway if you're interested! :)

Braziliant and Co.

I visited Walgreens just this past weekend and though I wasn't planning to purchase nail polish I couldn't resist any of these colors! I don't blog about every single nail polish I purchase, but rather those that stand out to me. Since I didn't already own any shades similar to these three, they needed to be on the spotlight! While at the store excitedly tweeting about these beauties Danielle at Bloomin' Beauty was such a sweetheart to twitpic her swatches of Revlon's Blue Lagoon, made it so much easier to decide :) I think Blue Lagoon is exactly what was missing from my Spring Nail Polish Picks post! Revlon's Modern Grace came out of nowhere, I'm just a sucker for purple and its hundreds of shades of it!

Braziliant is one of six colors in Essie's new summer 2011 collection. I can definitely see this color on maaaaany hands (and even toes, why not!) this summer! For me it is definitely that nail polish I see another girl wear and when I ask her what it is she doesn't know the name or brand of it. Then I hopelessly search for that color and epically fail finding it. Actually just today I asked someone about her bright orange nail polish and she gave me the exact answer "oh I have no idea". lol

Braziliant is a hot orange with pink shimmer which is only visible in the bottle, if you look carefully in the lower right photo above you can sort of see it. It is an opaque polish as only one coat completely covers the nail, aka no white tips. Jessica over at Getting Cheeky has warned me that it stains nails and skin so a base coat is a must. I didn't take the chance as I didn't want to suffer from orange-stained skin/nails so I applied a base coat. I didn't photograph this but after applying the first coat of on top of the base coat, little bubbles on my nails began forming. After the second coat they were camouflaged. I thought that was bizarre since I've never seen anything like that before! Apparently Braziliant doesn't like my Sally Hansen base coat too much!

In summary, it's safe to say I'm already obsessed with this color! Even if the weather has been a bit of a mess here in Chicago (let's just say 50 degrees is a good day!) a glimpse of this bright color on my nails helps me be patient for the warm weather and puts a smile on my face :)

Did you get any colors from Essie's summer 2011 collection or any new nail polishes recently?

Spring Nail Polish Picks!

Hey everyone!

Sorry I haven't been able to update my blog as often as I'd like as my sister just flew in from Turkey few days ago. We've been busy catching up and having sisterly fun! :D Thanks for bearing with my lack of productivity, I do have more posts coming up though. ;)

 Although the recent temperatures in Chicago (think mid 30s on a good day!) do not seem like spring is upon us, technically it is! I am ready to slap on some pastels and pretty, feminine colors in general on my nails! Here are my picks for spring :) I just got these color wheels from Sally's thinking the colors would be easier to photograph and just to have neater swatches, I like the outcome!

L-R

Essie Topless & Barefoot

Essie Mint Candy Apple

Essie Lapis of Luxury

Essie Splash of Grenadine

OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender

China Glaze Light As Air

OPI Mod About You

Essie Van D'Go

Revlon Temptress

China Glaze Peachykeen

Revlon Tropical Temptation

As you can see I'm obsessed with pinks and purples once spring time rolls around but of course I like to mix it up, how long can one wear pink nail polish?! I would have just loved to add a pastel yellow to my collection as I love yellow! But..I seriously hate the way pastel yellow looks on my hands, I tried it.

If you could add some nail polish colors to this color wheel, what would you add? 

I always love nail polish recommendations! :)

Hope everyone's week is off to a great start! ♥

Zoya Didn't Forget About Me!

Like most nail polish lovers out there, I also took advantage of the three free nail polish deal from Zoya last month. I already knew the demand would be out of this world (I heard approximately 700,000 bottles were given out...now that's A LOT of nail polish wow!) and my new polishes would take a while to come home to me but I didn't think it would take this long! Not too long ago I received the long awaited package but there were only 2 nail polishes in it...Apparently, Kelly is pretty huge in the Zoya world hence being on back-order forever. I thought I'd wait to get all three to publish this post so without further ado, here are the newest additions to my nail polish collection!

L-R: Ibiza, Mata Hari, Kelly

Of the three, I wanted Kelly the most because I am a sucker for unusual shades like this. I love all three of these colors especially because I don't own anything close to Ibiza or Mata Hari. I don't own an exact dupe of Kelly but I do have several colors like Kelly that are reminiscent of wet cement. 
  

...and Zoya was nice enough to include swatches of their new shades from their Intimitate collection in the package! I was happy to see them as when I saw these colors on their website a while back, my jaw dropped! They are all very pretty and needless to say I want them all :)

L-R: Marley, Dove, Caitlin, Dannii, Jules, Gemma

This post is obviously not a review but I can't end it without telling you all that Zoya nail polishes are super user/wearer-friendly! I own a several other of their polishes and so far haven't bumped into a color that doesn't apply like butter! Application is always so easy, combination of their medium-sized brush and their amazing formulas make even the shakiest hands apply them like a pro. While I do love, OPI, Essie and China Glaze, using their nail polishes I always mess up and paint the sides of my nails as well. Mess up is seriously very minimal with Zoya ones, it's almost too strange! Another thing I love about them is the fact that they are formulated without Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate and Camphor. Way to go Zoya!

Which colors did you guys pick up from this Zoya event?

Hello Glitter!

I think we all know by now that glittery nail polishes are one of the current nail trends these days. I have seen especially chunky gold and silver ones from nearly all brands! I was never really a fan of glittery nail polishes until this year! Some of you who follow me on Twitter may know, not too long ago I spotted elf's holiday collection which basically consists of ready-to-gift stuff. Though everything looked very attractive I skipped. Recently while at my local supermarket I couldn't resist going to the aisle where they had elf stuff just for the heck of it! To my surprise they still had quite a bit of boxes left. So I picked up this box of nail polish trio which screams holidays! 

While I was experimenting with these nail polishes, a light bulb lit in my head. About a week ago, I picked up this Revlon nail polish in Powder Puff, fully aware that it's in Matte Suede finish. Now, when I think of nail polish, I think gloss, shine...something to make nails gorgeous! I knew what I was getting when purchasing this nail polish. I was going to try and make it work by applying top coat. It does look very pretty with top coat on. The color itself has that pearly blueness to it but I would definitely not wear it just by itself. 

So I did...

Revlon Powder Puff + e.l.f. Golden Goddess ( Twinkle on pinky!)

I applied 2 coats of Powder Puff to my nails and then 2 coats of elf's Golden Goddess. I have found that 2 coats of each still doesn't result in glossy nails so I topped them off with a top coat. I love the outcome! I realize 5 coats of any nail polish is a bit too much, surprisingly it took much less to dry than I expected though!

I also tried Powder Puff with elf's Twinkle (on my pinkie) which is also very pretty! The only difference between the two is that Golden Goddess has bigger round glitters and Twinkle has smaller ones. The third color in the trio is called Cranberry. I honestly didn't think it would be anything special but I love this color as well! It is a cranberry color with tiny red glitters in it! My favorite of all 3 is obviously the gold one! I can't imagine the number of possibilities using these nail polishes with others! Both the gold and silver ones can be used over maaaaaany different colors. This was a great and a very reasonably priced purchase. I paid around $4 for them on sale! ;) 

Do you guys like holiday and/or sparkly, glittery nail polishes?

Sparkle-icious

I had been impatiently waiting for OPI's Burlesque collection to hit stores so I can go and get this sparkly little number. Last week while at Ulta my wandering eyes spotted these OPI holiday nail polish duo + body shimmer which were just hanging out behind the registers. I asked the salesgirl if they have the individual ones and she said no. So what's a nail polish addict to do? I bought the duo with the body shimmer (which I knew I would never use, what does body shimmer have anything to do with nail polish OPI?). Recently I was at Ulta again and saw these babies in individual packaging! So I returned the duo and here I am with the one I wanted: Sparkle-icious! I normally don't like this much glitter in a nail polish, I have no clue why the sudden change in my taste! There are a total of 12 colors in this collection, 6 being glittery and 6 regular ones.

This nail polish is packed with a lot of tiny gold, blue and pink glitter! It's a glitter lovers dream come true! I did two coats to make sure there are no empty spots. One coat does a decent job but it you will see spots. Application was a breeze thanks to the amazing OPI brush. I noticed that this nail polish dries much faster than a regular polish. It may be due to all the glitter, who knows!

Sparkles!!!

After my purchase, I immediately started brainstorming ideas of what I would pair this up with. (I know I'm crazy but that's what happens when you love nail polish as much as I do!) I initially thought it would look pretty with a purple or pink base. Honestly I was not planning to wear it by itself. But then something magical happened when I painted my pinky with two coats of Spakle-icious. I think I love it just by itself after all!

Index Rimmel Steel Grey, Middle Sally Hansen Fuchsia Power, Ring OPI Pamplona Purple, Pinky Sparkle-icious

My most favorite is definitely my PINKY! I also really like it over Steel Grey. Purple is ok, I don't think I would do pink. It was a fun experiment, now I know what to avoid! :) 

I love holiday collections, who doesn't? I think OPI has done a great job with this year's collection. Colors are amazing and there are 12 of them! That's plenty for everyone to find at least one shade they like! When I first saw the swatches online, I really wanted Bring on the Bling, but the purple-ish look of Sparkle-icious really captured my heart so I went with it in stead. I will definitely make Bring on the Bling mine as well though!

Have you bought a nail polish from the Burlesque collection?

Racing Green

Hey dolls!

I've received this Barry M nail polish in a swap and finally used it for the first time a week ago and I absolutely love it! I know that it'll be one of my favorite nail polishes in fall and winter :)

Racing Green is a beautiful metallic deep green with a hint of blue and just the right amount of shimmer. This color reminds me of a mermaid for some reason :) Barry M nail polishes come in rectangular glass bottles and they are actually called "Nail Paints", cute! I don't know what Barry M puts in their formula but whatever they do put, they are doing a good job! It has just the right consistency, not too thick or thin; therefore making the application a breeze. I also love the brush even though it's nothing like that of OPI or China Glaze. It's actually quite thinner than both brands' brushes so has less bristles. Amazingly it picks up the nail polish in such way that with only one sweep I can coat my entire nail. Sometimes I even had more nail polish on the brush than I needed, it definitely picks up the right amount, but never less than what you need.

I totally forgot to photograph my nails with only 1 coat. I think one coat of Racing Green did a decent job with only a bit of the white tips showing. I definitely would not call 1 coat of it sheer.With most nail polishes, however, I prefer 2 coats. With some even 3. In this case I applied only 2 coats and look at the results, purdy! FYI: I didn't apply top coat.After applying this nail polish I have done quite a bit of housework and I must say besides me picking some parts of the nail polish, it wore pretty darn good. This formula definitely doesn't come off easily. I would say it lasts 3-4 days without chipping, in my case at least.

What do you guys think of Barry M nail polishes?

Neon or Not?

Hey ladies!

If you follow me on Twitter, you may know about this...I went to my tanning salon a while ago and as soon as I walked in, the first thing that caught my eye was the nail polish the girl at the counter was wearing. It was not pink, not red, not orange. I don't even know what to call that color, maybe a mix of the three? All I knew was it was so pretty and I wanted to make it part of my ever-growing nail polish collection. So I right away asked the girl what brand/color it was. Her response was "Ahh it's one of those cheapo brands, I think it's Milani or something". I don't discriminate when it comes to nail polish, I love many cheap-er brands' nail polishes! She said she didn't know the name, but that it was one of those neon ones. So I swung by Target and scoured the Milani rack however I didn't see anything that looked quite like hers. I ended up getting these two instead.

I love Neon colored nail polishes, I am actually drawn to anything that's neon. What can I do, I am an 80s child :)

My thoughts...

First of all, it's kind of hard to tell the true colors of these nail polishes just by looking at the bottles as the bottles are already colored themselves. So what you see isn't necessarily the color in the bottle. This was the case with Awesome Orange. I am very disappointed by Awesome Orange, this color doesn't even look neon to me! It is orange and it is bright but not neon in my book. A total different color comes to my mind when I hear "neon orange". As you can see from my pictures, 1 coat of this color won't do much (1 coat is so lame!) and neither will two coats. Formula of this color is also very runny compared to Pink Hottie which is much more consistent. It goes on quite streaky and I hated that. Even after 2 coats and top coat, it looks like my nails were painted by a 4 year old. It just looks really messy even though I paid extra attention.

1 coat, 2 coats, + Top Coat

Pink Hottie on the other hand is more accurate. Application was smooth for the most part but I did experience some streaking, definitely much less than I did with Awesome Orange. With only 1 coat, white tips of my nails are visible but it's not as bad as the orange one. With 2 coats, whites are invisible. I actually enjoyed this color, it looks pretty with a top coat. Reminds me a bit of China Glaze's Shocking Pink, which I love!

1 coat, 2 coats, + Top Coat

 I don't think I would repurchase these nail polishes. In stead of getting two of these, I would rather get one nail polish from OPI which never disappoints. These Milani polishes are $4.99 at Target in case you'd like to know.

Essie Resort Collection 2010

Hey ladies!!! 

I want to share with you all my latest obsession and it is nothing other than the new Resort Collection by Essie! I love O.P.I but I started my nail polish collection with Essie polishes so Essie has a special place in my heart. Therefore I frequently check their website to see new collections. Well last time I was on Essie's website, I saw that this resort collection will be in stores in May. It's not even May and the other day I bumped into these colors at my Ulta! Yeaaahhh! All the colors have exceeded my expectations, wow! They are all very beautiful and totally me! 

LAPIS OF LUXURY

It's a true cornflower blue and it's just gorgeous! Here on my nails I have 3 coats, yep! It took me 3 coats to achieve this level of opacity. One coat is way too sheer, two coats were better compared to 1 but I could still see the white tips of my nails and I hate it when that happens. So I went with 3 coats, and I am pretty happy with the way it looks!

PLAYA DEL PLATINUM

 

I would call this color sandy grey/wet cement color, it's an unusual color so it definitely isn't one of those colors that will be loved by too many people. However, I've been looking for a color like this for a long time so when I heard about this I was super excited! I have 2 coats on in this picture. I could have easily done 3 but left it at 2 so it dries faster.

SPLASH OF GRENADINE

I love pink so I knew I'd definitely be getting this color. It's hard for me to describe this color because it's not exactly pink and it's not exactly purple. It's almost like a jelly lavender, reminds me a lot of English Accents lipglass and Bloomingly Lovely lipstick from MAC's Liberty of London collection in nail polish form. Since I've already proven myself that I can't pull off lavender lip products, I will be using it on my nails in stead because I really do love lavender color! I applied 2 coats of it and I think that was sufficient to coat my nails evenly.

TURQUOISE  & CAICOS

 I was quite skeptical about this color because when I first saw it, the first thing that came to my mind was For Audrey by China Glaze which I have and love to wear. You can see my post about For Audrey here and compare the two. They are quite similar but I wouldn't say they are dupes of each other. In my opinion Turquoise & Caicos has more green whereas For Audrey has more blue. I personally think Turquoise and Caicos is more of a Tiffany blue (check out my little Tiffany box in the back he he). I used 3 coats here, 1 & 2 coats were a bit too sheer for my nails.


Over all, I think this is an awesome collection from Essie and I love all the colors! I don't normally buy the entire collection from any brand, in fact I think this is the first time I ever did this! But there was something about the colors in this collection so I had to get'em before they sell out. According to my observance at my local Ulta, most colors were close to being sold out, so if you're interested in any color get them before they are gone (even though there's always online shops). All of these colors also come in little sample size bottles for $17, I think. Individually they are $8.50.

Did you girls get any of these colors or any new colors from other brands? I am obsessed with nail polish so if you know of a color I must absolutely have let me know! :)

NOTD: O.P.I Lucky Lucky Lavender

Hey girls!

Here are my nails today! Yes, I do change my nail polish every other day I love nail polishes that much! :) I have been loving shades of purple on my nails these days. I love purple in general, it's such an attractive and beautiful color and I think it's a color most people can pull off. I bought Lucky Lucky Lavender after seeing it on Lorraine's nails, the moment I saw it I knew I had to have it! I love lavender, at least on my nails. I definitely cannot pull it off in lipsticks, I regret buying Blooming Lovely from MAC's Liberty of London collection, even though it's so pretty!

Lucky Lucky Lavender is from O.P.I's Hong Kong Collection (Spring/Summer 2010). Honestly when I first saw the colors from this collection, getting this particular color didn't cross my mind, at all. Application like all O.P.I nail polishes was a bliss. As usual, no streaking, even coating, you know typical characteristics of O.P.I polishes. I think this color would be great on toes as well and with a tan, it would look so amazing. Can't wait to be tanned!!! One thing that caught my attention during application was that, the formula of this color seems to be more runny than other ones, it was kind of bizarre. Here I have a base coat, two coats of Lucky Lucky Lavender and a top coat. I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend!

NOTD: China Glaze FLY

Hello lovies!

Well, after obsessing over China Glaze Peachy Keen for almost a week, I decided it was time for a change. Nail polish change that is! I was going through my collection of nail polishes and came across this color that I honestly don't remember ever using before. I know, it IS crazy to buy nail polish and never use it as most nail polishes don't have long shelf life. I don't know what I was thinking. I'm happy I got "reconnected" with this gorgeous color.

Fly was part of a China Glaze collection called Kicks which came out in 2009. I would call this color a cross between raspberry and purple, raspberry-ish purple or purplish raspberry, something like that! It has pink flecks with micro shimmer. I totally forgot to take pictures of how nails look with one coat, but anyway it's nearly impossible to wear any nail polish with only one coat. As with most China Glaze nail polishes, application is a bliss. Formula has great consistency, applies evenly and smoothly. No streaking at all! I also love the staying power, I've been wearing this color for two days now and no chipping yay! I do apply a top coat every other day just to keep the shine though. On my nails I have a base coat, two coats of FLY and top coat. Voila!

NOTD: China Glaze - For Audrey

Audrey Hepburn? Possibly! This is a total Tiffany's blue nail polish and I am sure China Glaze was dying to call this "Tiffany Blue" but unfortunately Tiffany & Co holds the trademark for this color. Regardless it's a beautiful turquoise color which is one of my favorite colors EVER. Turquoise gives me sense of peace and reminds me of the Mediterranean Sea and summer...ahh bliss!

China Glaze makes good nail polishes and I love the colors they come up with but I'm not really crazy about their brushes. They need learn to master the art of brush making from OPI! I think CG brushes are too long and thin. Long brushes make applying the polish evenly so difficult. If they make shorter brushes with more bristles like OPI does, then really all you need to do is dip the brush in nail polish and in one "swipe" you can coat your nails, or at least this is how it is in my case. I'm not even putting up a picture of how this polish looked with only 1 coat, you really can't get away with 1 coat with this baby! I suggest 2, but if you can do 3 even better!

For Audrey is definitely not your everyday color (I guess it depends on what you do/work) it's in the fun polish for weekend category. I think it would be a fun idea to use this color on toes for your "Something Blue" in your wedding if you wanna spice things up a bit or if you're having a Breakfast at Tiffany's themed party etc.

Here I have my nail hardener as my base coat, 2 coats of polish and top coat.

NOTD: O.P.I Pamplona Purple

Hey everyone!

Here is what I have on my nails today and probably I will keep this color for 3-4 days since it's one of my favorites! Pamplona Purple is a very pretty plum color and is part of the O.P.I España collection. I like to wear this color on nails and toes too, another reason to love it! I'm sure you can easily find it on eBay or Amazon, if you don't want to pay full price. I love O.P.I nail polishes in general and purchase them more than any other brand. Before applying the polish, I applied a coat of Sally Hansen Hard As Nails nail strengthener (which I love, I need to do a review on this!) Below you can see how nails look with 1 and 2 coats. They actually look like two different colors, after applying the second coat I think I achieved the same color that's in the bottle. I normally do two coats no matter what the color is, as you can see one coat looks streaky and bad!