Nail Polish Collection & Swatches - Essie, OPI, Sephora by OPI, Orly

Daily Manicures in November - Week One Photos

Since I acquired a ridiculous amount of nail polishes over the past month or two, I decided I would paint my nails every day during the month of November, specifically in an attempt to try out a lot of colors I haven't used yet. Rather than posting every day, I decided to do a summary at the end of each week. There isn't too much I'll be able to review on any polishes since I'm only wearing each one for a day, so I probably won't say much unless it has a particularly difficult formula or something to that effect.

Nov. 1st: Revlon - Fierce (one coat!! that's all it takes!)

Nov. 2nd: Orly - Green with Envy (a very thin formula - first image is one coat, 2nd has three) with Wet n Wild Cost is No Issue (from the Ice Baby collection) on the accent nail

Nov. 3rd: Sinful Colors - What's Your Name with OPI Turqoise Shatter

Nov. 4th: China Glaze - Poinsettia (from Holiday 2011 collection)

Nov. 5th: Urban Outfitters - Cocktail

Nov. 6th: Sinful Colors - Love nails (this formula isn't thin, just really sheer. one coat on top, two on the bottom)

Nails of the Day: Funky French Tips

I love the way these polishes look together, probably because of their similar shimmer qualities. I tried a few looks before choosing one.

The green is Zoya’s Ivanka and the blue is Orly’s Halley’s Comet

The winning combination (this time):

The pink is China Glaze’s Strawberry Fields and the purple is Dannii from Zoya.

I am really loving these two polishes together. Although I think I’ll need to combine the blue and green polishes soon!

Nails of the Day: Rainbow Sparkle + Crackle Manicure

Once again I was inspired by a nail tutorial from sayanythingbr00ke on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBaQUb3N0Dw)
This manicure didn't take nearly as long as I expected! To make cleanup easier, I applied Vaseline all around my nails (but NOT touching the actual nails) because it just wipes off with the excess polish at the end.


Obviously I changed a few things about the manicure, but it was inspired by Brooke's video. I chose to do sparkly polishes since I've been really into them lately. I would have liked to use a black crackle rather than grey, but I don't have a black. I don't hate the grey, but it's definitely not the same effect.

Before I applied the crackle polish

The polishes I used are:

Pink: China Glaze - Strawberry Fields
Purple: Zoya - Dannii

Blue: Orly - Halley's Comet
Green: Zoya - Ivanka

Crackle: China Glaze - Cracked Concrete

With crackle, and mostly cleaned up.

Detail of thumb nail.

Overall, I'm really happy with how it turned out. I think using the grey instead of a black crackle makes it less crazy bright looking. The black would have added more contrast. I think either look is good depending on what look you're going for. If you have the white crackle, that would probably look awesome as well.

Nail Polish Haul and Swatches

Here are the nail polishes I've gotten recently. Mostly holiday colors. I got China Glaze Sacred Heart for $1.99 and Orly Halley's Comet for #3.99 in the clearance bin at my Sally's. 

L-R: Milani Ruby Jewels, China Glaze Sacred Heart, China Glaze Mrs. Claus

 Sacred Heart is a lovely opaque creme classic red polish. It's called a neon on the bottle, but it isn't matte. I wish Mrs. Claus was more red than pink, but it's still a nice polish and I think it has some potential for interesting layering combinations. It's very sheer.

L-R: China Glaze Party Hearty, Milani Silver Dazzle

These Milani "one coat glitters" all look AMAZING. I decided to just get this one. This is two coats, but it's totally opaque. It's hard to tell in the picture, but it is totally matte and you can feel the glitters, so you may want to use a topcoat with it.

L-R: Milani Hi-Tech, China Glaze Mistletoe Kisses, Finger Paints Mistletoe Mischief

 Mistletoe kisses is definitely one of the coolest polishes I've seen lately and the one I'm most excited to use for the holidays. Mistletoe Mischief is sheerer than I hoped - this is 3 coats - but it's still a lovely green.

Orly Halley's Comet

I could NOT get this one to photograph well at all. It's an amazing color. It goes on fairly sheer but after 2-3  coats it's just fantastic. It looks mostly blue in this picture, but it has a lot more of a teal effect in person, and it's much more glittery looking in person as well.
Scrangie has a much better looking photo of this on her blog : http://www.scrangie.com/2010/09/orly-cosmic-fx-collection-fall-2010.html

Overall I'm very excited about all of these! It'll make for some interesting Christmas manicures!

Nails of the Day : White and Black Dots

Here are my current nails! The base is 2-3 coats of Sally Hansen "White On" with Claire's matte top coat. 

I did the dots using the pen part of a Claire's two way nail art pen and brush in black. I decided to leave the dots shiny for a bit of texture contrast as well as the color. 

This is the second time I have used the Claire's matte topcoat, and I'm really impressed with it. It mattifies better than the Orly Nails for Males, and it lasts a long time without chipping. I would definitely recommend it. 

I found Essie's Matte About You at my Marshall's this weekend for $3, but I haven't tried it yet, so I can't compare it to the Orly or Claire's versions.