Dove

Polish - Zoya Dove

I've been wanting a nice true dove gray for a long time now. When Zoya had their promotion where you could get Dove and Caitlin with any online purchase, for their "French Twist" manicure, I snagged them both. I finally tried Dove this weekend. And, while it is a nice neutral gray, it falls a little flat for me. I think I'll be looking for China Glaze Pelican Gray. PG has a beautiful shimmer that makes it just a little more special that Dove, in my eyes at least.

Dove's application was pretty nice. It went on streaky with the first coat, which I find most Zoya polishes do, but after 2 more coats it's just about perfect. It's very self-leveling and that really helps this girl with the horribly uneven nail beds. Slap a coat of Seche Vite on top, and it's hard to see the imperfections.







If you enjoy Zoya polish and need a subtle gray cream, snatch this one up. It's a pretty shade, but I think I'll still be searching for my perfect gray.

Damsel in a Dress

Polish - Essie Damsel in a Dress

If you know me personally, you know that I don't have good luck with Essie polish.  Well, with Damsel in a Dress, I thought I'd finally found an Essie color that I didn't hate.  And I guess I still don't hate it, but after less than 24 hours of wear, I'm not loving it as much as I did when it was a fresh manicure.

By 7pm last night, I had five nails that were considerably chipped for a less than 24 hour old manicure.  I touched up those nails and applied a coat of Seche Vite and wrapped my tips, and woke up to chips on 2 of the "fixed" nails.  I'm disappointed.

The color in the bottle looks like it will be a browned burgundy, leaning toward purple, with a pretty shimmer.  After 3 coats for coverage, I ended up with a very vampy deep dark eggplant color, that looks like a brown cream when light isn't shining directly on it.  I wish some of the shimmer showed in regular light.

Direct sun




Indirect sun


I'm ready for a change tonight, and I can't decide if I'll keep this shade or not.  I'll probably end up giving it one more shot, maybe with a different base and top coat.





If you're looking for a nice dark vamp, and have good luck with Essie polish, give this one a go.  If you are wary of Essie like I am, skip it.

Suvi

Polish - Zoya Suvi

Well, I have never had the pleasure of visiting New York, so I'm not sure if I love it. But I know I don't love Suvi. I don't know what it is about this color, but it's just so "meh" to me that I almost can't even stand it. I got it as part of a 3 polish St. Patrick's Day set back in February and even out of the mail package when I swatched it, I just didn't like it. The first coat is horribly ugly and streaky. That gets better with the second and third coat. It ends up with very good coverage, but I just can't stand the color. I've never seen it on anyone else, so I can't say if it's just my skin tone that I hate it with or if I just don't like the polish period.

It's a bummer though, because from the bottle you'd this it would be a stunning green. It's even got a shimmer, which you know I usually love. But here? Not so much.

We're having a bit of an overcast day, so I had to use the flash to get a good glimpse of the real color. I'll also post a shadow photo, for comparison.

Flash






Overcast




If you try Suvi and like it more than me, please let me know. Hopefully it just doesn't mesh well with my skin tone.

Magnetic Force

Polish - L.A. Colors Color Craze in Magnetic Force

I guess it's good that Virginia is for Lovers, because I am in love with Magnetic Force.  It has officially taken over as my new favorite polish for Summer!  Flip Flop Fantasy can suck it, y'all!

Magnetic Force looks pink in the bottle, but on the nail, it's a true beautiful coral.  And it has a wonderful gold shimmer that just adds that extra oomph to take it one step past FFF.  It was easy to apply, left no streaks or cuticle drag, and I could have easily gotten away with one thick coat if I were in a hurry.  For this manicure, I applied 3 thin coats over my basecoat, and a final coat of Seche Vite for quick drying.

Direct Sun


Indirect Sun


Shadow


And that beautiful golden shimmer...


I first applied Magnetic Force this past Friday evening.  It was already dark, so I didn't have a chance to take a decent photo.  The next morning I had to work, and that evening I went bowling.  We spent all day Sunday at a drag boat race and let's just say my nails took a beating over the weekend.  I took this photo this morning, after 4 days of hard wear and tear.

As you can see, if it weren't for the couple of peely nails I have, this would have only shown minimal tip wear.  I give it an A for effort.

Now, get thee to a Dollar Tree and snatch this color up.  It's perfect for Summer!

Tropical Breeze

Polish - L.A. Colors Color Craze Nail Polish in Tropical Breeze

L.A. Colors polish is really pretty great stuff.  I buy it at my local Dollar Tree store for a dollar.  How amazing is that?  It's at least 3 free, if not 4 free (free of the bad stuff, that is) and is beyond cheap.  And it's usually a pretty good formula to boot!

Tropical Breeze is a true grape purple shade.  It's a cream, and goes on a little watery at first, but after three coats, it provides total coverage.  As you will see, I have just minimal cuticle drag on a few nails, but if I had not been in a hurry while applying it, I don't think that would have been an issue at all. And as it is, it's not bad enough to show much with the naked eye.

This polish is somewhat shiny without a shiny topcoat, but I still prefer extra shine, so put a coat of Seche Vite over it and it's nearly perfect.







This is the prettiest, truest grape I've seen, in a long time.  Go ahead and make that trip down to Dollar Tree and pick it up.  It's totally worth the price of gas!

Sailor

Polish - Nina Ultra Pro in Sailor
I've got a smile on my face, because I've got no more nubs!  And, my nails are a beautiful place today, because of this polish!

Sailor might be the best cream polish I have ever worked with.  It went on smooth, leveled itself out so nicely, and was beyond shiny even before a top coat.  I'm just almost speechless.  I have notoriously bad luck with cream polish, but not last night!

The pigmentation was excellent.  It took 2 coats for complete coverage on this one.  That's unheard of, for me.  I didn't even get any cuticle drag.  It's a miracle.  I have "Leaf Me Alone" from this same collection and now I can't wait to try it.  I've been dreading it, but not anymore.

The photos I took are not of a fresh manicure.  Almost immediately after this polish dried, I had to take care of some yard work, and after that was done, it was already dark.  So, these photos are of a manicure that did yard work, slept, and then did a half a day's worth of typing.  There's minimal tip-wear and some scratches, but it's still just such a lovely color that I don't think anyone will even notice.







The color is a few shades lighter than Sally Hansen's Navy Baby.  It's a true Navy, not even close to black.  It's awesome.  Go buy it, if you can still find it.

Flip Flop Fantasy

Polish - China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy
NonNubs - Day 1

The nubs are officially non-nubs, y'all! I'm very excited. I can finally scratch an itch. Fun times.

Today's color is a real beauty, I'm not gonna lie. It's a perfect shade for summer. It's so bright and pretty. It looks nice on almost any skin tone. It's a really winner in that regard.

It's a little tricky to apply. I had to use 3 semi-thick coats to get good coverage. But, with a coat of Seche Vite afterwards, there were no drying issues at all.

My only other complaint is that, as of this writing, it's been less than 18 hours since application, and I already have small chips on 4 fingers. It's a bummer, but it doesn't mean I'll be throwing this polish out. It's still a winner, overall.

This photo was taken in indirect sunlight. You can see that it's still as bright as bright can be. It's basically a neon, and it's lovely.



All the rest of these photos were taken in direct sunlight, and wow - isn't it something?









If you haven't done so already, go out and buy this one.  I don't think you'll regret it.

Antiqued Gold

I've been waiting for a month to get one of the new Sally Hansen crackle polishes.  I have very good luck with almost all things Sally, so I figured I'd wait for hers to come out, to be my first crackle experience.

I went to CVS on payday, and looked at the display.  I decided on Antiqued Gold.  I knew I didn't want black or white, and this one seemed the most neutral out of the bunch.  But it's still special.  It's very sparkly too, so that was a big plus.



As soon as I got home, I had to try it out, so I just brushed it over the color I was already wearing, which was Zoya Adina.  Adina is a very pretty duochrome that goes from purple to silver to green.  I love it.







So I brushed a very thin coat (per the instruction on the bottle) of Antiqued Gold over my thumbnail.  It kind of just sat there.  It didn't really crack.  I was broken-hearted for a moment.  I went ahead and tried it on the rest of my right hand and it got a little better.  I noticed that the best cracks came from the thickest coats of polish.  Which, is basically exactly the opposite of what the bottle says.  Curious.

These aren't the best photos, because the sky was very overcast, but you can see the cracks.  They are decent, but the Adina is still barely visible through them.







After a day of wearing this combination, I decided to try the Antiqued Gold over a lighter or brighter shade.  I got in my drawer and looked through some of my favorite polishes, and settled on Fingerpaints' Tiffany Imposter. 

In case you're not familiar, here it is from the first time I tried that color.  Please excuse the accent nail.



It's a very light, bright, Tiffany blue.  I'm in love with this shade and right now, if I was only allowed 1 color of polish, this would be it.



And guess what?  It looks FABULOUS under Antiqued Gold.  I applied 2 coats of Tiffany Imposter and 1 fairly thick coat of Antiqued Gold.  And I've already had two compliments on the combination today.  I didn't get even one compliment with Adina.







I'm so much more impressed with the cracks than I was the first time around.  I really think you need to refrain from using a light hand when applying the Sally Hansen Crackles.  Go ahead and slap a thick coat on there.  I don't think you'll regret it.

Banana Bamba

Polish - Maybelline Express Finish 50 Second Nail Color in Banana Bamba
Nubs - Days 10-15

I know you'll be shocked, but I got this polish on clearance at Big Lots.  I got it because it looked like a nice mellow yellow in the bottle, and I didn't have a nice yellow in my collection.  I had a possibly-school bus yellow (that's later on down the list of untrieds) but nothing soft like this one.

The brush was squat and very thick.  It really sucked up the polish, which you'd think would make it go on a lot smoother.  Well, it didn't.  It was kind of a streaky mess to apply.  But with 3 thin coats and some Seche Vite, it came out as well as could be expected.

The day after I put on this polish, I started reading about how horribly the Maybelline Express Finish polishes chip and don't wear well at all.  Well, at that point, it became a quest to see how long it would last.  I wore it for 5 solid days and it wasn't as awful as I'd expected.  I never reapplied my top coat, and it still ended up with just tip wear and just a couple of small chips.  I will say that the first of those chips came within 12 hours of application, though.  If you look closely, you can see it on the edge of my thumbnail.  But that was it until the last day.  I was impressed, for the most part.  But that doesn't mean I'll be flying out to scoop up anymore of this polish.  If I come across another color that I like the look of, and it's cheap enough, I'll probably buy it.  But I don't plan to start hoarding it or anything.



You can see the soft shimmer in this photo.  It gives it a little extra kick and makes it just a little more special, don't you think?






And this is after 5 solid days of wear.  It's not a wonderful photo - the sun was almost set by the time I remembered to go out and take it.  But you can still see the wear.  Not too bad.