April Polish & Nail Care Favorites!

April went by SO fast! I can’t believe it’s the end of the month. I know everyone says that, but spring is seriously FLYING by! Here are my April nail care and polish favorites!

Butter London Trout Pout– AKA my favorite polish of all time! I love this color so much!!

imPRESS Press-On Manicures– I love these nails. They stay on forever and they look so polished and chic. If only my real nails looked this good! 🙂

OPI Brazil Beach Sandies– I love this little set. The colors really pop. If only they were available in full-sizes!

Golden Retriever Nail File– It’s golden retrievers. Do I REALLY need to explain this? Of course not.

Bath and Body Works Hawaiian Sun Hand Cream– This hand cream smells amazing! It is beach in a hand cream. I think I need a back up…

Josie Maran Whipped Argan Oil Hand Cream– I’m not too keen on the scent of this, but I love the texture. It smells good and everything, but it’s just not amazing. It’s nice and lightweight, and doesn’t make me feel greasy.

What are your favorites this month?

Roy G Biv Series: Yellow!

Oh yellow…one of the BEST colors to wear, but the absolute most difficult to find a good formula for; am I right? Nevertheless, I do have ten fantastic shades of yellow to share!

OPI You’re So Flippy Floppy– WHY is this shade a) not permanent, and b) only available as a MINI? This yellow is fantastic! It’s available in the OPI Brazil Beach Sandies set.

Nicole by OPI Sand in My Shoe– Another textured polish, this one from the NOPI Roughles collection. I love the unique texture of these. This one also has some red speckles in it.

Sally Hansen Butterscotch– I love colors like this in the fall. This is the perfect mustard yellow.

Hello Kitty Banana Cream– Said to be the closest dupe for Maybelline Banana Pudding (a cult favorite), this is a beautiful, pastel yellow cream. The formula isn’t amazing, but it isn’t terrible either.

OPI I Just Can’t Cope-Acabana– No words needed. Best. Yellow. Ever. Flawless formula, and it’s super cheery.

China Glaze Celtic Sun– This is your classic neon highlighter yellow color. I love neon. I never tire of it!

China Glaze Lemon Fizz– Another classic, cheerful yellow. This one leans pastel, so it’s perfect for spring.

Butter London Cheeky Chops– This is another bright and cheerful color; more subdued than Cope-Acabana, but brighter than Lemon Fizz. It’s kind of like a light egg yolk.

Sally Hansen Lemon Shark– This is from the Triple Shine line of polishes, and it’s surprisingly good. It’s very bright on the nail. The formula is a little thin, so you will probably need 3 coats for opacity.

Sally Hansen Hue– It’s been a year and a half since I first blogged about this yellow shade from the Hi-Definition collection (now discontinued). What a great collection that was. I love this color and the formula is great. It’s worth looking for on eBay if you can find it!

What are your favorite yellow polishes?

 

Hard Candy Pop-Arazzi

Hard Candy Pop-Arazzi is one of the new matte glitters from Hard Candy’s spring polish release line. This glitter is packed full of light blue, dark blue, black, green, red, and cream glitter. I thought the color selection was unique and I’ve never seen anything like it before.

This glitter applied nicely and has decent coverage; I didn’t need to work with it too much to get it to lay flat or provide strong distribution. I can’t stand it when I get a beautiful bottle of glitter only for it to not distribute fully on the nail. You know what I mean- when you dip the brush in, and there’s four glitters on the nail and a big blob of clear polish- This isn’t like that!

Hard Candy polish is cruelty-free and only $4! The only downside: the only place to get it is Wal-Mart!

Sephora X Illustrious

Oh, Illustrious. Described as “pistachio pearl”, this is such a beautiful minty green, but not your standard mint green. This has a lovely, pearl finish that looks like a very subtle metallic. And how cute are these Sephora X bottles?

The color is fantastic; the formula is just average. It’s not amazing (like OPI), but it’s not terrible either. Colors like this are prone to streaking, and this is no exception. A good top coat will minimize any unevenness from streaking, and working with thin coats.

Have you tried many shades in the Sephora X line? What do you think of them?

Zoya Liberty

Let me just say that these photos do NOT do Zoya Liberty much justice. This is a polish that needs to be seen and experienced in person! Liberty is one of the Pixie Dust shades. The sparkle in it is incredible; sadly, I don’t think that is reflected very well in my photos.

Liberty looks lighter on the nail than it does in the bottle, and definitely evokes the image of sparkling blue water. 🙂 Those who are maritime junkies like myself definitely need this shade! Like the other Pixie Dusts I’ve tried, this does dry slowly, but it wears for days without chipping.

I bought this on a whim and am so glad that I did! 🙂

Summer Brights – Pale Blue

This Summer Brights polish actually doesn’t have a name; it’s made by Blue Cross Beauty, and the brand is sold at Rite Aid. I believe they make all of the snowman polishes at Christmas time, and other “themed” random polishes that can be found throughout the year. This Summer Brights display really caught my attention. The jars are cute squares, and the colors are beautiful. Bright, just as described. Not knowing what the polish would be like, I picked up this vibrant, pale blue polish.

This polish dries to a semi-matte finish. The first coat or so is streaky, but with three thin coats and a top coat, it looks fantastic. This color is also incredible, in my humble opinion. It really pops and just brightens things up a bit. It also wears well. I had this one while I was peeling off some sealed items from the store, and I didn’t get any chips or even tip wear. Color me impressed!

This was $4 at Rite Aid. I may have to go back and get another shade!

Zoya Dillon

Dillon is part of Zoya’s latest spring collection, Awaken. It is a warm, metallic aqua green color. I really like Zoya’s metallic shades; I find they are the best performing compared to their cream polishes.

The formula on this is okay; it is not as fluid as Zuza (which is fantastic). The shimmer in this color tends to drag and get stuck. It isn’t completely impossible to deal with, but it is something to make note of if you’re considering this shade. It is almost opaque in one coat, and I only ran into the dragging issue with the second application, so it is best to work in thin coats.

This color is a unique take on mint for spring, and I really like it despite the minor formula issue.

ROY-G-BIV Series: Orange!

Welcome to the next post in the ROY-G-BIV series! If you missed the first one, I am going through the colors of the rainbow and showing my polish favorites. This installment features my favorite orange shades!

First up is OPI Where Did Suzi’s Man-Go? – This is from the Brazil collection. It is a very soft, peachy orange shade. It looks lighter in person.

OPI A Roll in the Hague is a bright, vibrant true orange. This is from the Holland collection.

Zoya Sharon is a soft, pale orange. It is limited edition, but Zoya Arizona is a dupe.

Dior Abricot (also known as Apricot) is described as a “light, shimmering apricot”. This color is so unique, delicate and pretty. Love this shade!

Zoya Thandie is a very orange coral. The formula is great and this shade is very summery. It looks a little lighter in person.

Cos Bar Copper is a polish that my mom bought for me awhile back, and it is one of my favorite orange shades! This color is so fantastic. It’s metallic and really GLOWS on the nail!

China Glaze Riveting is from the Hunger Games collection, and it is seriously fire on the nails. It is a must-see in person. People who don’t like orange at all might even like this one; it is that pretty!

Finger Paints Circus Peanuts is a pale, pinky pastel orange. I love this because I think of my grandma (yep, the one who inspired this blog) every time I wear it. She loves circus peanuts!

MAC Sweet Pop, oh how I adore you. Probably my favorite of the bunch, right here. It’s a pale pastel orange; it looks lighter in person.

Maybelline Coral Glow is a limited edition color. I love this polish so much that I bought a backup of it last year. It truly does glow! If you like it, you can still find it on Amazon.

What are your favorite orange shades?