Stash Update

i posted almost two months ago about my collection. i have uploaded a spreadsheet of my current stash: i now have 78 polishes total. i've also added my colour wheels underneath the shelves i store my polishes on. i think it looks pretty cool! RAINBOWS EVERYWHERRRRRRE

Ozotic Pro "621"

i was lucky enough to receive this Australian brand red holographic polish in an international swap. i chose it as my Christmas manicure. it's got a great formula, the fumes aren't even that strong. it took a little longer to dry than i'm used to. the wear has been alright; it's day two and there are a few very small chips. it's an amazing colour and i love it. shown two coats in shade and then sun.

Revlon Top Speed "Violet"

i purchased this new Top Speed polish when i bought "Royal". it's a shimmery magenta-purple shade. i think it's a nice colour but not quite right for my skin. the formula was also a little TOO speedy to dry for my taste. it chipped within a day :( it is sufficiently opaque; shown is two coats.

i removed the photo that was here first and replaced it with this more accurate one:


the shimmer really stands out under certain lights and flash

China Glaze "Golden Opportunity"

this polish is from the Fall 2008 "Operation: Colour" collection. it's a yellow creme with golden shimmer. i really expected to like this colour but i didn't. the China Glaze skinny brushes drive me nuts and this polish took three coats to even out the bald patches. the American Apparel "Manila" that i have is similar and i like it better so i'm putting this one in the swap pile.
apologies for the poor quality photo!

Piggy Polish "Green and Bear It"

when i first saw this polish at Ulta, i couldn't believe that i hadn't noticed it before. it was part of the Fall 2010 collection. it's a lime/chartreuse glass fleck jelly type. I LOVE IT. it finally rids me of the snot green void i've tried to fill with previous polishes. two coats is sufficient and it wears well!



i think of it as the naughty younger sibling of China Glaze "Zombie Zest"

Orly "Meet Me Under the Mistletoe"

i purchased this hesitantly...i gave in because it's green. and shimmery. it definitely reminds me of evergreen trees--it's a blue leaning green but it isn't teal. unfortunately on the nail it was darker than i prefer. i also had the worst shrinkage with the Seche Vite topcoat. in my photo, that isn't tipwear, that's shrinkage! it also took three coats to get even opacity. this one wasn't a keeper for me.

Ulta Professional "Sugar Cookie"

i'd eyed this polish from the Enchanted Nail Collection by Ulta and Too Faced for a while but couldn't justify buying a mini 5-pack for just one polish. well my best friend wanted one of the polishes in the pack too, so i decided that was reason enough to buy it! so even though i have three unused minis (good for swap extras, at least), i ended up with this to-die-for polish. it's a sheer white base with light gold microglitter that ends up looking kind of like a duochrome glass fleck. the finish makes it very forgiving (i did this manicure right before a holiday dinner party). in direct light, the gold stands out. in indirect light, you can see a sort of light blue/lavender hiding in the polish. it's really beautiful and makes me feel like my hands are pretty. only two coats shown, and i didn't think it needed anything else.
i really wish this came in a full size.

Ulta Salon Formula "Dance Teal Dawn"

i picked this polish up on a whim because i thought it was a neat colour. it's a dark, shimmering teal. i like it but i wasn't blown away. also i dropped the bottle on tile and chipped the plastic cap. oh well. two coats shown. i hated the brush even after i trimmed the stray hairs. MUST ALWAYS CHECK BRUSH BEFORE PURCHASE



please forgive the chips and tip wear, i didn't get to photograph this manicure right away

Nicole by OPI "Stuck In the Chimney"

this polish is from the Holiday 2010 collection. i thought it would be prettier based on the bottle, which shows gold shimmer. on the nail it's less impressive but still pretty. it's darker than i expected it to be as well. the application was nice although i'm not keen on Nicole by OPI's skinny brushes. two coats shown.

Maybelline Express Finish "On Fire"

i found this bright coppery metallic polish at K-Mart. it was my first 'dusty' run before i even knew what a dusty was. my local K-Mart is ancient and as a result has a bunch of ancient polishes. i sifted through a large variety of Maybelline polishes hoping to find something akin to "Vanishing Venus", but i was not so lucky.
however, i did find "On Fire". i held off on buying it initially since i own Piggy Polish "The Right to Bare Feet", a stunning copper-pink duochrome. ultimately i decided that Maybelline "On Fire" was unique for my collection and purchased it. i still can't find any information about this polish on the internet. i'd love to know when it came out.
it's not the most flattering colour on my skin, which i've decided is warm-toned. however, it's an awfully neat colour that lives up to its given name. it's multidimensional too; you can see some gold swirls in the bottle.

Colour Wheel: Purple

please allow me to introduce you to my purple wheel. everything is two coats unless otherwise notied.


1. Sally Hansen Xtreme "Concrete" (2 coats) + Sally Hansen Xtreme "Mystic Lilac" (1 coat)
2. Pure Ice "Purple Reign"
3. Nubar "Iced Licorice" (3 coats)
4. Zoya "Adina"
5. Zoya "Zara"
6. Orly "Fantasea"
7. China Glaze "Joy"
8. Revlon Top Speed "Violet"
9. OPI "Movin' Out" (4 coats)
10. OPI "Merryberry Mauve" (3 coats)
11. OPI "Queen of West Web-erly"
12. OPI "Diva of Geneva"
13. "Orly "Galaxy Girl" (3 coats)
14. Sally Hansen Salon "American Beauty"

i have 14 polishes that i consider part of the purple family, as you can see. i have this "problem" of repeatedly buying the same sort of colour: a purple with gold iridescence. in general i hate gold. gold anything. i don't own any gold polish. but i own a lot of polishes that SHINE GOLD. it's silly. anyway, i do love my purple polishes and the many versions of purple-gold polishes i have. they're flattering on me, what can i say?

i noticed the other day that one of the four shelves i keep my polish on is entirely devoted to purple. then today, a woman remarked that she liked my polish and my bag, and she asked if it's my favourite colour. in fact, purple is nowhere near my favourite colour. my favourite colour is grey, then pink, then green, then maybe purple. yet nearly 25% of my collection is purple. i find it amusing.

Rimmel 60 Seconds "Night Before" + Milani "Totally Cool"

i posted earlier about my comparison between these two polishes. i ultimately decided to purchase both polishes to layer. both polishes are navy blue jelly bases with pink-purple shimmer, but the Milani polish has larger shimmering particles. i did two coats of Rimmel "Night Before" and one coat of Milani "Totally Cool" on top for extra pink shimmer. i have to say, i really like the brush on Rimmel 60 Seconds polishes. it can be kind of nerve-wracking applying a dark jelly, but the Rimmel brush is very easy to use. i had no problems with layering these; they dried quickly and nicely with a coat of Seche Vite on top. i'm very pleased with the outcome...so much so that i didn't want to watermark the photos i took.






i love the bottles too!

Revlon Top Speed "Royal"

i say, "i don't even like blue polish," and it's true. blue almost never suits me. but when i saw this cobalt jelly, i decided it was cool enough to give it a shot. i did two coats, but it could have used three. it's a bright yet dark blue that leans toward violet. it has a semi-matte finish and needs a top coat to look glossy.

sun

shade

i decided to spice it up a little with Hard Candy "Break Up" glitter polish. it has small rainbow iridescent hexagonal glitter plus tiny rainbow specks. the iridescent stuff is pretty much all i like. i did one coat and topped it off with Seche Vite.

sun

shade

coincidentally, this combination matches my new handbag really well.

Zoya "Ivanka"

for some stupid reason, i put off buying this polish even though i knew i'd love it. i love greens and foils. this polish was like wearing jewels on my nails. it looked great on my nubs. three coats is best for true opacity. my only complaint was that i expected it to be more of a duochrome...and it isn't. but it wore great, three days before a chip. i quit my barista job a couple weeks ago so my nails get to look great for longer now :)

sun

shade

Milani "Neon Lites"

i am strangely drawn to lemon-lime nail polishes that don't suit my skin tone (see also Revlon "Beach", which was equally failure-tastic). i spotted Milani "Neon Lites" at my largest nearby Walgreen's and decided to give it a shot. it is a cool colour by itself, a light chartreuse with some shimmer, but looked awful on me. shown is three and a half coats (i say half for touch ups of bald spots).




dark chocolate salted caramels are, however, indisputably awesome.

comparison: Rimmel "Night Before" vs. Milani "Totally Cool"

i was pretty excited when i found Rimmel "Night Before", but then i found out there were a lot of polishes that are similar to it (Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear "Purple Pizzazz, Milani "Totally Cool", Claire's "Magic"). however, most of these versions are very sheer, and Rimmel's is pretty well pigmented. i decided not to buy the Sally Hansen one and i can't find the Claire's around here, but the Milani was within reach. the Milani is nice because the pink shimmer particles are bigger and thus more noticeable. however, the Milani is way too sheer for me, as i don't like high maintenance nail polish.

i compared swatches first

at first, i thought i might combine the Milani and the Rimmel to make a franken. then i decided that it'd just be easier to layer. so i gave the Rimmel swatch one coat of the Milani for extra shimmer and i'm pretty pleased with the end result. i can't wait to try this as a manicure. i think it'll blow all of these similar polishes out of the water!