Polish for Business Nerds: Essie – A Crewed Interest

I want to be the person who names nail polish for a living. It’s so fun! This one has a BUSINESS PUN in it. As an aspiring accountant, there was no doubt that I would own this.

Essie’s A Crewed Interest, from the Spring 2012 “Navigate Her” collection (ha, get it? Accrued interest?)! It’s a light, saturated peach pastel creme. Let me just get one thing clear: I bought this mostly because of the name. I’m not usually drawn to pastels.

But I do love how the colour looks on me! Gorgeous, and makes my hands look extremely tan. The colour really pops and is incredibly pretty for spring.

I had some formula issues, as it’s rather chalky and streaky – I needed to apply three coats very gingerly. I feel like the extra effort was worth it, though. I mean, the name alone! Yes, I am obviously quite easily amused.

Essie – Lapiz of Luxury

Two midterms and a load of homework later, it’s finally FRIDAY which means…Reading Break starts! A full week of unadulterated slacking off. This one will certainly be memorable because I’m heading to the Bahamas on a cruise! :D I’m thinking this colour will be fitting for the occasion.

Essie’s Lapiz of Luxury! This is from their 2010 Resort collection. I don’t know how else to describe this but a clean, light-medium cornflower blue creme. It reminds me of one of the many shades of blue you find in Caribbean waters. It’s GORGEOUS. I had this on for a full week and didn’t even remove it because I was bored of it. It’s that gorgeous. I also got tons of compliments on the colour from complete strangers!

Application is typical Essie – dreamy creamy ease (why yes, I do appreciate rhyme and assonance, how did you know?). And because I had this on for so long, I can attest to the long wear of this particular polish. A full week and not a chip in sight. The perfect spring colour!

Deborah Lippmann – Ruby Red Slippers

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! In celebration of this special day, I’ve used my new, occasion-appropriate polish…

Deborah Lippmann’s Ruby Red Slippers. Sigh. Doesn’t Deb just do the best glitters? What with Across the Universe and Happy Birthday, I don’t think you can go wrong with a Lippmann glitter. Breaks the bank though, so I only purchase on special occasions. What was it this time? A special Shoppers/Murale promotion where I got an additional $80 from spending my points! It’s like I got this baby for free :p

I have the same issues with this as I did with Across the Universe. The base black colour is super sheer (which is necessary in order to allow the red hexagonal and round glitters to really pop). But it’s an easy fix – just start off with a coat of black polish (I used OPI’s Black Onyx here), apply two coats of the glitter polish and it looks perfectly opaque. As with most glitters, this polish is a bit thicker than usual, but again, this is necessary to suspend the glitters within the liquid.

I love this, I really do. Not as much as Across the Universe, as this one is a bit one-dimensional in comparison. But for what it is, it’s pretty badass. I’m not much of a mushy Valentine’s Day celebrator – I avoid the cutesy pink nail polish on the day at all costs. This is a much sexier and exciting option, don’t you think? ;)

Easiest nail art ever: Playing with texture!

A couple of days ago, I felt like pulling out some black polish and going a bit goth. Goth wasn’t enough though, and I straight-up wanted to look badass. Enter: matte top coat!

The only one I own right now is by Joe Fresh (again, $4 a pop) and it’s decent. The matte effect is certainly effective, although you may need two coats to avoid streakiness. Longevity is another issue. After a day of wear, the tips of my nails inevitably brush against cloth, skin, what have you, and the matte finish polishes itself to a dull shine. It’s actually an interesting ombre effect, with the matte being strong near the cuticle, and fading into shininess at the nail tips. But I wasn’t having it that day.

I whipped out my top coat, ready to polish each nail back to glossy inky blackness. But I decided to try something different! Behold:

The easiest nail art ever. Seriously. And it looks so cool! Before the top coat polish globs flatten out and dry down, it looks almost like water droplets!  This is all you need:

• Nail polish of your choice – preferably a dark one, because I think the contrasting textures pop more than with light colours. I used OPI’s Black Onyx.
• A mattifying top coat (again, Joe Fresh)
• A regular shiny top coat – I would suggest a non-fast drying one. When you create the dots, fast drying top coats tend to dry faster (duh) when they come into contact with air. You can be left with weird blobs/indentations, or bits if stringy dried top coat. Not fun. I used Nails Inc. Kensington Caviar top coat, which is fast-drying and not ideal for this. Still looks okay though if you can work quickly enough.
• Something to make dots with. You could get a nail art dotting tool – you can choose one based on how big you want your dots to be. I ended up using the end of an old crappy concealer brush.

So simple. Just apply regular polish, apply the matte top coat, then dip your dotting tool into the shiny top coat and dot away! The effect is fun and edgy, but requires little effort. Give it a try sometime, and let me know how it goes!

Joe Fresh – Gunmetal

Digging through my old photos to find material for the blog…must…not…buy…more…polish…

Joe Fresh’s Gunmetal. A brown-taupe FROST (I know, shock horror!) full of metallic shimmer, and a little blue and pink shimmer if I look closely enough. I don’t know. Frosts are really not my taste. This one wasn’t too horrible, as brush strokes are minimal – you know I can’t stand brush strokes. I think frost shimmers are just a little much on me.

What I love about Joe Fresh polishes though, is that they are affordable and of great quality. So even if you end up buying a colour you don’t love, you’re not out too much money. Though I’ll probably end up giving this to someone who appreciates frosts more than I do.

Essie – Velvet Voyeur

Another one of my birthday polishes…yes, it took me 6 months to get around to blogging it. Don’t judge me. And thanks to Alison for this one! :)

Essie’s Velvet Voyeur. I couldn’t ask for more in a vampy polish – this is the ideal mix of deep purple, burgundy, and brown. It applies somewhat streaky in the first coat (as most polishes do, it’s just more obvious with an ultra dark colour), but a second coat fixes everything. It also dries to a gloriously glossy finish, although I did follow with a top coat (out of habit more than anything).

I really don’t have else to say about it. It’s perfect!

Barielle – Falling Star

This one’s a weird one, guys.

Barielle’s Falling Star. Got this at Winners last week, the only place that seems to sell Barielle in Vancouver. This is definitely a polish that I haven’t seen before – mid-toned, slightly dusty blue creme base, packed with medium-sized bits of copper glitter. Wha? A combination that I’ve  never really thought of. Props for originality, Barielle!

Uniqueness aside, I’m debating whether this colour combination really works for me. I feel like the copper clashes with the blue, making the glitter look dull at certain angles. My nails sort of looked like they were flecked with little piece of…dirt? Hmm. Not sure I’m sold on this.

Of course, since this is full of glitter, removal was a horrendous process. It wasn’t even as bad as it could be – I peeled off most of it in the shower (which is not a good habit, but if you’re desperate to remove glitter polishes easily…give it a shot. Something about the steam makes the polish easy to lift from the nail). I couldn’t quite get my pinky finger, so I went with good ol’ nail polish remover route – ugh! Blue base comes off easily, leaving behind an armour of copper glitter that you must scrub furiously with your cotton pad. Glitters…it’s a love/hate relationship.