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.

Russian Navy Suede

Polish - OPI Russian Navy Suede
Nubs - Day 2

Wow, my first two polishes are both from the clearance rack. 

I purchased this polish from the clearance rack at Ulta for about $3.50.  It was one I had seen photos of a few times, and I always liked the look of it.  The only problem I could see, was the wear time.

I usually get a chance to do my nails every other day or so, but what if I was wearing this polish during one of those 4-5 day stretches?  Would it last?  Probably not, according to the instructions that come along with the bottle.  So, I thought I'd experiment with putting a matte top coat over it, and see if that extended the life at all.  I'm currently on day 2, and just have minimal tip wear, and a tiny chip on my right thumb.  The good thing about the sheen of this polish is, it does mask small defects.

Over my Orly Bonder basecoat, I applied 3 thin coats of this polish, and 1 coat of Essie's Matte About You top coat.  The matte does take a bit of the unique sheen away from this polish's finish, but I think it's worth it for the extended wear time.  Overall, I'm pleased with this manicure.

In this photo, I've got Matte About You on my pointer and middle fingers.  My ring and pinky fingers have no top coat.  If you look closely, you can see the difference, but it's very subtle.


Here is a closeup of my middle and ring fingers, for a closer comparison.


The following photos were all taken this morning, after one full day of wear.