Essie – Really Red

Are you looking for that little bit of va-va-va voom in your life?

Essie’s Really Red certainly fits the bill. And the name, while unimaginative, doesn’t induce cringes (which is always a plus)! This is a shimmerless, medium warm red jelly. It’s not one of those ridiculously sheer jellies though – two coats and nail lines disappear. I don’t really love medium reds on me for some reason, but this one I can get used to. Not really much to say about it. It’s a classic red, what more do you want?

Oh, the polish itself? Easy to apply. No streaks, no strange brush issues. :)

Maybelline Express Finish – Cool Couture

Bought this several months ago and never got around to reviewing it. I think it’s limited edition as well, so hopefully you can still find this!

Maybelline’s Cool Couture, from the Express Finish line. A stunner and truly a unique colour from a mainstream drugstore line. I can honestly say I never expected Maybelline to come out with such a sophisticated, yet trendy polish. The base is a cool gray creme with a fair amount of “hidden” blue-teal shimmer running throughout. This is the gray/teal sister of Chanel’s Paradoxal, which has a smokey dark gray-purple base with purple shimmer. Yes, I just compared Maybelline to Chanel!

The Maybelline Express Finish brush is great. Not the widest out there, but decidedly flat (which makes it much easier to work with, at least for me). The formula on this was fine too – two coats, no dragging or opacity issues. I’m a happy camper.

Belated Christmas mani: Nicole by OPI – Sensational Scarlet

Yet again, I have neglected this blog! Apologies all around. Previous term was pretty awful, but since it’s a new term and a new year, I though I’d start off fresh…by showing you what I wore for Christmas!

Nicole by OPI’s Sensational Scarlet. A beautiful jelly berry red full of small red glitters and rounded holographic glitters. So wonderfully festive! Got tons of compliments on this colour – it was just perfect for the holidays.

This brush was awful. Nearly unusable. I tried to cut off the rounded edge to make the brush perfectly straight in the hopes of making it like the OPI ProWide brushes, which sort of worked. The formula of this is not too bad to work with. It’s a bit thick, and the texture is something rough and goopy…I remember reading somewhere that it reminded someone of oatmeal? Not a bad description. It dries to a gritty finish and loses its shine as well, so make sure to follow up with an ultra-shiny fast-drying top coat!

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure – Grass Slipper

There was a sale on the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure line at Shoppers a few weeks ago, and of course I took advantage of a good deal! I took this chance to buy a colour that I knew I didn’t own – one that is unique, attention-getting, and mood-boosting :)

I think Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Grass Slipper fits the bill! A simply gorgeous, clean-looking lime-yellow green creme. Not much to say about it, except that just looking at it makes me happy! Formula on this was was superb for a drugstore brand. Two easy coats, no streaking issues or weird consistency at all. The brush, which I usually hate (it’s one of those “sculpted” ones) worked decently. I think these kinds of brushes are a hit or miss. If they’re cut well, they work well. If they’re cut poorly, it’s just a big ol’ mess. Luckily I got a good one with this bottle.

I have read that this colour can stain quite a bit (I certainly experienced this with another one Sally Hansen’s bright colours), so make sure you use a good base coat before applying!

Orly – Androgynie

Anyone who really knows me knows that I’m a huge astronomy geek. I love it so much that I’m willing to buy any polish that reminds me of space in any way. This was one of them!

Orly’s Androgynie, from their Holiday Soirée collection, is a sheer black that has noticeable bits of gold and multicoloured glitter, as well as big pieces of hexagonal multicoloured, possibly holographic glitter. This polish looks insane in the bottle! I couldn’t wait to try it on and see the closest approximation of the universe on my nails…

Unfortunately, this polish is disappointing. The base black colour is sheer, yet manages to “eat up” a lot of the gorgeous shimmer and glitter. you see in the bottle. As a result, what you see on the nail isn’t really that impressive. The sheerness of the black base was mitigated, though, by applying a coat of OPI’s Black Onyx underneath it, which is just a flat black creme polish.

Also, the glitters somehow manage to stick themselves to the side of the bottle, but rarely find their way to the brush and onto your nail. The big hexagonal glitters, especially, make only a rare appearance on the nails. Argh. Was really hoping this would be a showstopper, but sadly, it isn’t.

Thankfully I bought it on sale at Winners, so no harm, no foul!

Zoya – Neeka

Zoya’s Neeka, from their Fall 2011 Mirrors collection, is a spectacular polish. A dusty royal purple packed with flecks of larger gold shimmer. Still sophisticated, but with a lot of visual interest. This is my second Zoya polish – my first being Crystal. You may remember reading that I wasn’t quite impressed with the brand, but this polish completed turned my opinion around. Neeka is incredibly pigmented and applied smoothly, with little effort. I wish the Zoya brushes were just a touch longer though. The relatively short brush was a bit difficult to get used to. But I’m willing to deal with it if it means getting to wear this beautiful colour!

 

OPI – Warm & Fozzie

Happy Friday, everyone! Hope y’all have exciting plans for the weekend :) Ending off the week with a polish from OPI’s Muppet collection…

OPI’s Warm & Fozzie is a intense bronze foil polish packed with copper, gold, bronze, and maybe…taupe shimmer? It’s a very complex polish. The shimmers are suspended in gray base – this becomes especially apparent when you remove this polish (the cotton pad shows remnants of the bronze-y shimmer particles, as well as a flat gray smudge).

As with most foils, the polish looks like it would be gritty to the touch, but it’s perfectly smooth. Truly nothing beats the finish of a foil if you’re looking for something snazzy and eye-catching – glitters are beautiful, but a nightmare to remove. Foils may not be the easiest polish to remove either, but they fare much better than glitters, and have a similar glitzy effect. Love!

OPI – Mermaid’s Tears

OPI’s Mermaid’s Tears is another little gem from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection. Again, another colour that I don’t really see fitting in with the movie franchise, but whatever. It’s a dusty, muted light turquoise creme. I love this colour! Great for those who want to wear brighter polishes that aren’t too in your face.

It’s in the same vein as the Nicole by OPI’s My Lifesaver and Orly’s Gumdrop, but Mermaid’s Tears is like their less saturated cousin. Applied really well in two coats. No complaints!

Dior – Rock Coat

I cannot tell you how many bottles of nail polish I got for my birthday. I guess that’s just what happens when you have a lot of girlfriends who know you write a nail polish blog :p Thanks everyone!

Consequently, I have a lot of new material to blog about that I really should get around to. This is one of my more recent gifts (thanks Chu!).

Rock Coat over The One That Got Away

OPI The One That Got Away by itself

Dior Rock Coat (shown in the first image over OPI’s The One That Got Away, ) is a super sheer jelly gray-black that’s designed to be used over other colours as a top coat. It turns the existing colour into a smokey, vampier version of itself.

In theory, a really cool idea. I’m all for changing up my nail colour, especially if I’ve had the colour on for a few days and want to jazz it up without applying a new shade. However, you have be quite careful and strategic with Rock Coat. Getting the exact right amount of polish on the brush is important in order to achieve a streak-free finish. Even so, it’s sort of a hit-or-miss product – I HATE brushstrokes of any kind, so this kind of variability in application really irks me.

A lot of this has to do with the type of polish you choose to use underneath, though! I’ve had great luck with it over high-shimmer foil polishes such as OPI’s The One That Got Away (pictured). It turns the bright glittery polish into a more glowy, “dark on the edges, light in the centre” finish that I love so much. It’s pretty difficult to use over light pastel creme colours though – the streaks show up like crazy.

Nails Inc. – Warwick Way

So let me tell you a little story about how I came to buy this lovely shade of nail polish.

It was two summers ago, and I was in Hong Kong shopping with my mom. We came across a tiny  shop that sold inexpensive bottles of OPI minis. I bought three, and quickly fell in love with the super bright, teal creme.

I had my suspicions, though, that the minis were fake (the polish smelled especially terrible, and a quick Google of OPI colours didn’t bring up any old OPI bright teal cremes). At that point, I didn’t even care…the little fake OPI mini became one of my favourite colours. Alas, being a (supposedly) fake polish in miniature form, it quickly became unusable.

Ever since, I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect bright teal creme to replace it. I hoped that this might be the one.

Is Nails Inc. Warwick Way the perfect replacement? It’s close enough to satisfy me. Warwick Way is significantly greener but it’s certainly just as clean-looking and mood-boosting in the same way as my fake OPI. This is bright, people. It does weird things to my camera and my top coat (Seche Vite) doesn’t even look right over it. It also stains my fingernails into something awful. I haven’t used a polish that stained my nails that badly, ever! Took me half an hour alone just to remove as much of the stain as I could, then buff the surface of my nails into oblivion. I can’t say that amount of effort is worth it for this polish.

The colour is lovely, the application was easy and smooth; no complaints in those regards. However, I think this is going back to Sephora as the staining just isn’t worth it. It’s also quite pricey (~$11CAD). Though I am very excited that Nails Inc. is now available at Sephora here in Vancouver! Maybe I’ll exchange this for another, more subdued shade from the line.