American Apparel – Neon Violet

A few weeks ago I bought a coupon for American Apparel nail polishes – $15 for 5! Sweet deal. Look for more AA reviews in the near future!

American Apparel’s Neon Violet is a very bright violet-magenta jelly. It doesn’t strike me as exactly…neon. Don’t get me wrong, it’s hella bright. But it’s neon in the way that a neon purple highlighter is – it always seems to pale in comparison to the wacky neon yellows and greens. I just don’t really think neon purple exists, but I guess this is the best approximation.

Nevertheless, the polish is still brighter than your average purple/magenta jelly, so I was still pleased with it. Application was a breeze as well, but jellies tend to be easy to work with as long as the opacity is there (which it is, for this one).

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. :)

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!

OPI – Do You Think I’m Tex-y?

Just wanted to let everyone know first that I will be updating this blog less frequently over the next month, as I will be on exchange in Europe! No worries, I still have posts scheduled when I’m gone, but I’ve been busy packing and getting my stuff organized, so I haven’t had much time to write many posts in advance. Oh well. Here goes nothing!

OPI’s Do You Think I’m Tex-y?(CRINGE) is a “sorbet” finish polish from the Texas collection, just like the previously-blogged Guy Meets Gal-veston. What that means is that it’s a sheer, jelly-like polish. At one coat, it looks like a watery film of pink, with lots of your natural nail visible underneath. At three coats, it increases in opacity but still appears to look squishy…almost like a juicy berry. You don’t need a top coat with this one to achieve a high-gloss finish (yay!).

I actually quite like these new sorbet finish polishes from OPI, even though they’re not revolutionary in any way (no matter how hard OPI tries to convince me otherwise). Application was great, and they’re actually pretty opaque for jelly polishes. Three coats will be enough to get rid of a very noticeable nail line.

OPI – Guy Meets Gal-veston

SUMMER. PLEASE. It’s gotten to the point where I hope that typing in all-caps will make it true. Sigh. In the spirit of ineffectively making the weather cooperate, here’s another “summer” shade!

OPI Guy Meets Gal-veston, from the Texas collection, is one of their “sorbet” finish polishes. OPI’s really pushing this as a new, ingenious finish, but come on now. It’s really just a glorified jelly that’s been around for years; that is, a very sheer, watery polish. The above photo shows three coats.

Why would you even want a sheer, watery polish, you ask? Well, I love jelly/”sorbet” polishes because they build up to look like yummy squishy jellybeans. They look so clean and fun! Guy Meets Gal-veston is an adorable, punchy red-orange-coral that would look gloriously summery on toes in toe-baring sandals. One can only dream of wearing such footwear in this weather…

I’ll leave you to your own fantasies of summer for now, and wish all the students out there good luck with their final exams! :)