Essie Mirror Metallics

When I saw this collection coming out this summer I was really excited because the swatch pictures online looked so pretty.  I was surprised when I tried these because the polishes have a very unique finish.  They dried almost matte and weren't very streaky for how metallic they are.  I only used one coat for my swatch pictures.  The only downside is how they show every little flaw in the nail, even ones I didn't know I had.  If you are going to get these, I recommend purchasing a good ridge filling base coat and buffing the nail first.  

 No Place Like Chrome: silver metallic

Nothing Else Metals: lilac metallic

Blue Rhapsody: blue metallic

Penny Talk: copper metallic

Good As Gold: gold metallic 

Penny Talk

Nothing Else Metals

Blue Rhapsody

Good As Gold

No Place Like Chrome

I really can't decide which ones are my favorites.  I think Good As Gold looks the best with my skin tone, but I really love Penny Talk and Nothing Else Metals.  Which one is your favorite?

Independence Day Polish

I finally have my computer up and running again! I moved to a new place and the internet has been a little sketchy since I have been here.  I didn't realize my pictures were posting as a huge size so I fixed that on my last few posts.  Anyways, I decided to play with my red, white, and blue polishes to do some patriotic nails for the fourth.  I love holidays because it gives me a chance to try out nail art that I wouldn't normally do.  Hope you enjoy!

 Some of my red, blue, and white polishes. 

 Zoya Noel

A nice medium blue foil.  I probably wouldn't have bought this one, but I got a mini in my Birchbox awhile ago.  Great application and quick dry time.

 China Glaze Skyscraper

A blue jelly packed with tons of silver glitter.  It is a much sparklier version of Essie Starry Starry Nights. 

 Essie Ruby Slippers

This one really deserves its own post because it is so beautiful.  What makes it really pop is the lighter red/orange glitter in the dark red jelly base.  Without a topcoat it looks dull, but once you put on the topcoat it really shines! 

 Zoya Sooki with Julep America accent nail

Sooki is the most perfect red creme I have ever used.  It's super pigmented, smooth, and shiny.  Reds are usually a pain to apply but this one went on like butter. Julep America was great once I thinned it and put it over a red base.  I tried it over white and it looked awful so I will stick with red from now on.

 

 Chalkboard Nails' Ruffle Manicure

I used Essie Marshmallow as the base, then Essie Bobbing for Baubles, Zoya Sooki, China Glaze 2NITE, Sally Hansen White On, OPI Red My Fortune Cookie, and Essie Smooth Sailing for the ruffles.  I wasn't a huge fan of how this turned out because the reds weren't opaque enough, but it was a fun technique. 

Sponge Manicure

I used 2 coats of Essie Marshmallow for the base, then sponged on Essie Bordeaux and China Glaze 2NITE, and topped it all off with Essie Carnival and Seche Vite. I did this combo because I wanted it to look like fireworks.  I think it turned out well for my first attempt at sponging. 

That's all I have for today, which one was your favorite?  

Happy Fourth of July!

Essie Going Incognito

Today I am sharing my favorite green polish, Essie Going Incognito.  I had a tough time picking my favorite green, but this was one of the very first polishes I fell in love with.  It is the perfect hunter green creme and reminds me of Christmas.  It is probably the darkest green polish I have that never looks black.  It also has an amazing formula and is opaque in two coats.  Tell me what you think!

Essie Shorty Pants

Today I am sharing my favorite yellow nail polish as part of the favorites rainbow challenge.  Like orange, I'm not a huge fan of yellow because most of the time they have awful formulas and look disgusting on.  Essie Shorty Pants is an exception to this rule, it is a bright but not neon yellow creme.  Too bad this polish is discontinued and hard to find or I would get a backup.  Hope you enjoy!

Check out the other blogs that are participating here:

http://thiamere.blogspot.com/
http://9mluniverse.blogspot.com/
http://web.stagram.com/n/atlcatsmeow/
http://captivatingclaws.blogspot.com/
http://fancyphalanges.blogspot.com/
http://fesnails.blogspot.com/
http://followtheyellowpolishroad.blogspot.com/
http://footballandfingernails.blogspot.com/
http://www.freshairandfashion.blogspot.com/
http://happynailsuk.blogspot.com/
http://jolienskingdomofpolish.blogspot.com/
http://www.kellyskolors.com/http://lacquerdreams.blogspot.com.au/
http://www.lacquerorleaveher.blogspot.com/
http://liesllovesprettythings.blogspot.com/
http://lightyournails.blogspot.com/
http://www.manicurity.com/
http://mylifeinpolish.blogspot.com/
http://www.nailpolishlives.tumblr.com/
http://www.nailpolishlane.blogspot.com/
http://natrcolorsnmusic.blogspot.in/
http://polishandsuch.blogspot.com/
http://www.sincerelyobsessedwithpolish.blogspot.com/
http://www.sytycp.blogspot.com/
http://nailpolishrants.blogspot.com/
http://to-polish-or-not.blogspot.ca/

Essie Bright Tights

Today is day two of rainbow favorites, orange!  I'm not a huge orange fan, but I do have a thing for neons so I chose Essie Bright Tights to share today.  It is the best neon orange I have ever seen!  Too bad this one isn't in stores, but it can still be found at some online retailers.  Like most neons, it is extremely hard to photograph and makes my skin look sick.  This is two coats of Bright Tights over one coat of Sally Hansen White On.  It dries matte, so it definitely needs a topcoat for a shiny finish.

Essie Bonded

I'm doing a week of favorites that blogger Bec from Lacquer Dreams had the great idea of doing.  For this week I will post my favorite red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and pink polish from my stash.  Today is red and I chose Essie Bonded as my very favorite red to share with everyone. Bonded is a discontinued Essie that is a red jelly with a very fine silver glitter.  It is the red sister to Essie Starry Starry Nights.  On the nail, the glitter shows up pinkish because of the red jelly.  It reminds me of candied apples!

Essie Bonded (flash)

Essie Bonded (shade)

Essie Bikini So Teeny and Lapis of Luxury

I picked up Bikini So Teeny from the Summer 2012 Collection with the same name.  Bikini So Teeny is a very pretty light blue with hidden silver shimmer.  It reminded me a lot of Lapis of Luxury, so I did a side by side comparison.  Lapis of Luxury is a dustier cornflower blue with a creme-jelly finish. I love both polishes, which do you like better?

Essie Bikini So Teeny

Left- Bikini So Teeny, Right- Lapis of Luxury

Index and ring: Bikini So Teeny

Middle and pinky: Lapis of Luxury 

Shimmer Polishes

Because of my busy schedule this past week, I had been painting my nails and taking pictures without posting them here for everyone to see.  I have been loving the shimmers! Hope you enjoy my swatches. 

Essie Smooth Sailing (sunlight) 

Essie Smooth Sailing (inside with flash) 

I adore this polish and the name is very fitting, perfect for summer.
  

Essie Jackie Oh My

This is a gorgeous milky off-white with subtle shimmer.  This was three coats and you can see some visible nail line.  I could have done four coats to make it completely opaque, but I got lazy.

Zoya Charla

This polish looks like a mermaid fin.  There isn't much to say about this other than everyone should own it.

Essie Reggae + Zebra Stamping

Reggae is a very old Essie that I received in a swap about a year ago.  It is discontinued and so old that I can't find any information about when it was originally released.  It's even in an old style bottle, without Essie embossed in the glass. It is a frosty lime green, very unique.  Hope you enjoy!

Here is Reggae with black zebra stamping on top.  Sorry for the imperfections, I am a beginner at stamping.  Hopefully with practice I can get better.  Any recommendation for stamping plates to try out? 

 

Essie Steeling The Scene

My sister bought me this polish for Christmas at the very start of my nail obsession and I have used about a fourth of the bottle.  I want so much to love this color because it is so glowy, but unfortunately it does me no favors.  This polish is so metallic that it shows every little brushstroke and nail imperfection.  Application has to be flawless to look even halfway decent.  I will be taking this off because I can't stand the streakiness of it.  Maybe next time.

Brown Polish Swatches

I decided to swatch all of my brown polishes to see how they compare.

Sally Hansen Plum Licorice

I got this polish as an extra in a swap and haven't tried it until now. I'm not usually a fan of deep browns but the shimmer in this polish is gorgeous in the sun. 

 

 Essie Lady Godiva

I am such a huge Essie fan so it is a rare occurrence when I absolutely hate one of their colors.  This brown is the exact color of chocolate syrup but for some reason I just can't like it at all!  I think this one will go into the swap pile. 

 Butter London Flash Pack

Don't let this picture fool you, the shimmer in the polish is hidden and it looks like a light brown creme in almost all lighting.  Not a bad color though and great formula!

 Butter London All Hail The Queen

This is one of my favorite Butter London polishes!  The micro-shimmer is holographic, but it looks like a normal nude from a distance. Very work appropriate with a little bit of extra appeal.

 OPI You Don't Know Jacques

 A nice medium brown, perfect for the fall season. 

 Which one is your favorite? 

Introduction

Hello there!

I decided to start this blog to catalog my large collection of nail polish that I have acquired over the past couple of years and maybe, just maybe, someone will benefit from my swatches.  I have been painting my nails for as long as I can remember, but my collecting really amped up when I was trying to deal with the stress of graduate school.  Nail polish has now become my outlet for self expression and stress relief in my life.

I don't know the exact number of polishes I own, but I'm guessing it is somewhere around 200-300.  My favorite brand by far is Essie.  Their colors appeal to me the most and they wear amazingly well on me.  My collection also consists of OPI, Zoya, China Glaze, Butter London, Deborah Lippmann, Chanel, and various drugstore brands. 

Here is my very first NOTD (nail of the day):

Essie Camera 

This polish was just released as part of the Poppy-Razzi 2012 Collection.  I also bought Essie Action, a traffic cone orange, from the same collection.  This is 3 coats with 1 coat of Seche Vite.  I love this neon coral!  It dries matte and is a bit sheer.  Next time I think I will try it with a white base coat to make the neon really pop. 

I'd also like to share some of my favorite nail products: 

 

Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Gelous Advanced Nail Gel Coat

Sally Hansen Insta Dri

Revlon Extra Life Top Coat 

Deborah Lippmann Hard Rock

Lush Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter

Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream

J.R. Watkins Hand & Cuticle Salve 

Until next time, 

-NN