You're Blushing

Polish:  Orly You're Blushing

Fuzzy photos courtesy of my iPhone.

You're Blushing by Orly is a nice gray-purple cream polish.  It went on smooth, and even though I applied 3 coats for the following photos, I could have gotten by with just 2.  It didn't pool, flood, or leave bald spots.  I have a feeling I'll be wearing this polish quite a bit in the fall.  It's a nice, funky, muted neutral.

The skies are very overcast today, but I feel like the color is pretty true in these photos.












Do you own this shade?  If so, let me know what you think of it.

Purple Rain

Polish - Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro in Purple Rain

Cue the Prince music!  This color really should have been named Raspberry Beret.  It's a super dark raspberry purple cream.  It goes on smooth, self-levels, and really did wear pretty well.  I didn't do a 10 day or even a 5 day test on it, but I think I ended up wearing this color for a good 3 days, which is a long time for me, and it help up very well.



I applied Hard as Nails basecoat, 3 medium coats of polish, and a coat of Seche Vite.  With three coats, it has great coverage, but comes out very very dark.  If you have a steadier hand than I do, and want it a bit lighter, you could probably get by with just 2 coats. 





This is a pretty shade, a little vampy and dark, but pretty.  I'll be keeping it around for sure.

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.

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!

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.

In the Mood

Polish - Ulta Professional Nail Lacquer in In The Mood
Nubs - Day 6

Well, y'all, I hate to admit it, but this polish was 99 cents in the Ulta clearance bin when I picked it up.  Do I own ANY full price polish?  I don't even know anymore.

I don't usually enjoy wearing creams all that much.  The application is never easy for me.  My nails have ridges and flaws, and creams seem to show every single one.  But this polish wasn't bad to apply at all.  It gave me pretty good coverage and didn't streak much.  I was pleasantly suprised.

I used my usual cream trick and applied my Orly Bonder basecoat, then 2 coats of In The Mood, then a coat of  Seche Vite fast drying top coat, a final coat of In The Mood, and then a final coat of Seche Vite.  And, it worked like a charm.  I've had experience with a couple of other Ulta polishes, and I have to say, they're typically really nice to work with.  In The Mood was no exception.

It was cloudy yesterday, so it was difficult to get a good photo representation of the color.  The first photo is the closest to the true color, which is a nice gray-purple.  I wanted to show it in shade and shadow as well, so I'm including the other photos too.