Nicole by OPI – Still Into Pink + February Alphabet Challenge!

LOOK at how HOT this pink is! Oh my goodness. *Cue dramatic music*- I was in Rite Aid picking up an addiction of mine (Starbucks Refreshers in Raspberry Pomegranate) and I saw this blindingly hot pink Nicole by OPI polish staring at me. I stopped, looked at it, picked it up, put it down, and dashed off to the refrigerated section. I grabbed the cool deliciousness of Starbucks and headed to the register, but then I went back for this polish, and am so glad that I did!

The name, Still Into Pink, made me giggle. Clearly…I love pink. ALL SHADES OF IT. This is an amazing neon with some silvery shimmer. It dries mostly matte, and looks good either left as is or with a top coat (which is what I used). This is only two coats and there’s no need to use a white base either, which is nice! A must for pink fans. Oh, and this is a new shade too!

Also, I have a fun project planned for February here: the alphabet challenge! I’m going to go through the alphabet with my polish (by name, not brand). You’ll see the first one tomorrow, and yes, I even have the tough letters: Q, X, J, and Z.

China Glaze It’s A Trapeze

Hello! I can’t even tell you how long I’ve been waiting to blog about this polish.  It seems like my nails were super short FOREVER. Now they’re finally growing out again and hopefully I can keep them at a decent length. The reason I say that is because this is one of those polishes where I just don’t like wearing it with short nails because it doesn’t do it justice.

It’s A Trapeze is from China Glaze’s Cirque du Soleil collection. It is a white base with multicolored rainbow glitters. There’s even white glitter in here! This is definitely the best polish out of the Cirque collection, in my humble opinion. I layered this over My Boyfriend Scales Walls, but this polish is opaque in two coats, so layering isn’t necessary.

On the nail, the glitter is very packed, and it doesn’t dry bumpy. It’s also smooth to apply for how much glitter is in the bottle; it might be a little tricky at times, but overall it wasn’t a problem.

This polish can be worn alone or layered over other colors. I’m boring and haven’t tried it over anything but white yet, but I am thinking it would be GORGEOUS over a hot pink! Speaking of hot pinks, I have a new favorite, but that’s for later! 🙂

OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls

Ready to meet my FAVORITE white? My Boyfriend Scales Walls is a gray-tinged white shade that was released with the Spiderman collection. I had no interest in this shade specifically, but was looking for a good white. Meijer always marks down collections eventually and I found this for a mere $2! I liked it so much after wearing it that I went back for another one.

The formula on this polish is amazing. It’s NOT streaky and almost opaque in one coat, but I do need to use two for full coverage. It levels perfectly and isn’t too thick or too thin. It is also excellent for layering with glitters. I just can’t say enough good things about this polish!

The color works so well with my skin tone because it is cool, but not totally stark.

This was in my 2012 favorite polishes and I just can’t get enough of it. Even though I love color, I love wearing white in both clothes and polish, and this one is definitely the best I’ve tried so far.

Hare Polish – Oceans of Alloys

I’m so excited to share my first Hare polish swatch! Hare polish is an indie brand that I first heard about from Holly’s fantastic blog. When the polish was finally restocked on Llarowe, I made my first Hare polish purchases, including this one, Oceans of Alloys.

Oceans of Alloys is a light blue polish with gold and copper glitter squares, plus some smaller transparent/glowy glitter, making this polish pretty much amazing. This polish is packed with glitter, but easy to apply. It is opaque in two coats. I used one coat of Out the Door top coat and my nails are very smooth, without bumpy glitter.

The way this looks on the nails is amazing. The glitter appears to be ‘floating’ in the blue base. I’m definitely impressed with this brand so far and can’t wait to show off the other shades I picked out. 🙂

And thank you to Holly for introducing me to this brand! If you haven’t checked out her blog, you definitely should. She’s also having a giveaway right now to celebrate her blogging success, which is open until February 6th. 🙂

 

 

Revlon Pale Cashmere

Curiosity got the best of me and I finally purchased Revlon’s Pale Cashmere after hearing Amarixe on YouTube rave about this polish since last July. This isn’t my first Revlon Colorstay polish (remember Velvet Rope?), but this is the first time using both the Revlon Colorstay base and top coats that are recommended for use with these polishes.

Pale Cashmere is a very pale pink. It reminds me of the OPI Soft Shades polishes. The formula is very sheer, but I love how crisp this polish is and don’t mind how sheer it is. Also, these polishes do work best with the base and top coat by Revlon. I was actually quite surprised with the difference, the shine, and just how great the overall look was!

What do you think of this shade?

Revlon Royal + American Apparel Meteor Shower

Revlon Top Speed polish in Royal is a confusing polish. It very much appears to be a jelly in the bottle, and a lot of bloggers refer to it as a jelly. On the nail, it is not a jelly, but one of those weird jelly/creme hybrids. I quite like the formula of this polish as it dries quickly as the name implies, and it is incredibly pigmented. I love how deep this cobalt is!

American Apparel’s Meteor Shower is a shredded gold glitter. Call me impressed with this one. You know how some shredded glitters don’t lay flat and end up sticking up after applying top coat? Not this one. After applying a top coat (Healthy Hoof…review coming soon), the glitter was not bumpy and it didn’t stick up either. It also went on nicely; I hate it when you have to “dig” for the glitters, and this did not do that!

I love the combination of these two polishes and can’t wait to use Meteor Shower with some other colors. Definitely a favorite glitter of mine!

China Glaze Kalahari Kiss

China Glaze Kalahari Kiss is from the Fall 2012 On Safari collection. I wanted to feature this on a Tuesday because I’m really into this new series on the Discovery Channel called “Africa”. If you haven’t seen it, it’s amazing! The first episode was also about the Kalahari Desert. 🙂 I’m really looking forward to relaxing and watching this tonight, because I actually got in a car accident this morning and my car might be totaled. I’m luckily fine, but someone ran a stop sign and broadsided me.

This polish is a unique color. It’s not quite yellow, not quite beige…maybe a little mix of both. The formula was a little on the thick side, but that did not affect the application. I used two coats and a top coat here. I don’t think this shade is too flattering on my dead-of-winter skin tone, but is better suited for a summer tan (at least on myself). I do love how pigmented it is and that it wasn’t streaky like so many yellow polishes are.

What do you think of this shade?

 

Illamasqua Scarab

Good Monday Greetings! I don’t know about you, but it is utterly freezing here in Michigan. Now if only those of us south of the bridge could get some snow! It’s no fun to have all of this cold and no snow to go with it! Anyway, I have a lovely shade of red to show you to drive away these winter blues! 🙂

Scarab…oh how I was lusting after this color forever! It seemed like I had waited an eternity for it to show up on Sephora’s website. Finally, I found it in my Sephora. This is a very rich red; it has hints of deep scarlet with a little warmth. Scarab actually has a lot of dimension as it shifts color in the light.

True to the rest of my Illamasqua polish, this has incredible pigmentation and wear. I used two thin coats, but this could easily work with one coat as well! There is something about this polish that feels incredibly luxurious. I just imagine this color being worn by someone at a fancy ball. I think it is great for year round, but truly perfection in fall and winter.

OPI A Butterfly Moment

When I first saw swatches from Mariah Carey’s collaboration with OPI, I wasn’t very impressed. The color selection seemed quite random; I expected softer colors all around. Still, after more swatches became available the collection definitely looked more enticing! I’m happy because I was initially very excited for this collection.

A Butterfly Moment is a polish that I knew I would pick up from the beginning. I wish photos captured just how pretty this is; it has that ‘lit from within’ quality in person! This polish is a lovely pink nude with very fine golden shimmer, giving it a golden sheen that is just not present in these pictures!

This was opaque in two coats; it could probably work in one coat with some careful application. This shade is soft, feminine, and definitely a new favorite for me. The application was great too, no issues whatsoever. I think this would be a great shade for weddings; I also think this would look gorgeous on someone with darker skin!

What do you think of this shade? Did you pick up any Mariah Carey polishes?

MAC Grey Friday

While MAC is a cult classic brand with thousands of amazing makeup products, their reputation for nail polish, at least from what I have seen, is quite poor. Grey Friday is actually my first ever MAC nail polish, released on Black Friday with a matching lipstick. I don’t have the lipstick (it sold out quickly and it’s not something I would get use out of), but really love the polish. I like it so much that it was actually in my polish favorites of 2012! I could not stop wearing this in December.

This polish is perfect: it applies smoothly and it’s opaque in one coat. This is the perfect polish for impatient nail painters (like that alliteration there?).

This polish is described by MAC as “black matte with silver suede pearl,” which I find pretty accurate. It’s not difficult to remove, it isn’t streaky upon application. I really like this shade! It actually looks soft on the nail but is still edgy.

What do you think of this shade?