the purple side

I wouldn't categorize Insouciant as exclusively purple as it looks grey and possibly even taupe in some lights, but it's mostly a soft and dusty purple and a great piece of work from RBL. I have nothing to complain about in the formula here except it's a bit streaky in application and just when you think it will never even out it does. If RBL formulas have one saving grace it's their self-leveling quality. 

This polish has a soft cerulean and an even softer, hidden fuchsia shimmer. Truly beautiful and a pretty decent color for most people probably. I was super lazy getting pics here, probably because my nails were a bit nubby :/

Rescue Beauty Lounge Insouciant. Indoor Sunlight.

Not Electric Eel

I post one amazing shade-shifting green and I need to post another one. Here's another incredible find and another favorite from last year. I recently picked up Enchanted Electric Feel trying to find an electric green linear holo and wow, I am really in love. 

Check out the insane duochrome shift and linear holo. I could use some pointers on how to pick up holo in pictures, but in real life this polish is very holo-y distracting and shifts from a bright yellow gold to lime green to a light blueish grey. I highly recommend picking this up, as it's still fairly easy to get a hold of, if you're into these colors :) 

(middle nail broke D:)

Electric Feel Sun.

Electric Feel Sun.

Electric Feel Sun.

Electric Feel Shade.

Electric Feel Shade.

Electric Feel Shade.

wl gift!

From the first RBL fan collection--a polish that had eluded me for sometime until a very dear polish friend surprised me with it! It was certainly one of my best finds (though I didn't actually find it) of last year/this year. While I've heard about many having issues with the formula, I found this to be one of the best RBL formulas for me. 

The shimmer particles are fairly big and fleck-like and are copper, but also look pinkish in the sun. Sometimes the sage/succulent/dusty green of the base color looks grey and sometimes slate blue--I think this color could be flattering on many people. Absolutely a permanent in my collection, I love it!

New Year's Resolutions

These are really the kind of resolutions I should be making--the kind that involve avoiding my homework and spending more money on more nail polish. Surely the people in my life will be relieved when they hear of my healthy new outlook on life.

I want to do a couple of new year posts and this will be the first as I already have a few (unstable) leads!

Welcome to my list of polishes I am going to get this year. Inspired by a tradition of one of my biggest bloggess inspirations: pretty-random!

Without further ado:

9. China Glaze. Crocodile Lounge.

8. L'Oreal Future Jade

7. Maybelline Electric Apple

6. Enchanted All Love Garden
(not too htf right now, but expensive. 
I really want Green Goblin, eventually, 
but I am not there yet!)

5. Enchanted Presto Magic--again,
not that hard to find, but I refuse
to pay $50+ for it.

4. Illamasqua Nurture

3. Finger Paints Twisted

2. Lilypad Lacquer Frogs Alive 
This may show up on
Llarowe eventually, but I'm unsure of 
where to get it as of now.

1. OPI Real Teal (or Yosemite) Real Teal maaaaagic,
along with Rainforest and Jasper Jade, has been my
lemming for many years. However, I refuse to even 
mention the *other* OPI polish which from this point 
forward shall be referred to as thee which shall not 
be named, because I will not lem this polish. I just won't. 
And while I've never seen Real Teal, even on eBay, a 
blog sale, or anything it's not like thee which shall not 
be named, which appears on eBay for hundreds. So 
Real Teal, this year, I think we will be friends :)

This is my first new year list and I'm excited to get started. I didn't want to get in over my head and put totally impossible polishes on it, but some of these I've hunted for the past year and never come across. Some are just in a price range I refuse to pay. 

I've also had some great fortune in my finds this year and some amazing, generous gifts from friends as well as swaps and I'm excited to share those! 

PS Yes, I do see that over 60% of my list is green. Hey, it's a small list.

Photo credits:
9. Polished Claws Up
8. Babyness on Flickr
7. The Scholarly Nail
6. Polish Me Up!
5. Unsure, grabbed from pinterest :/
4. Swatch and Learn 
3. Scrangie
2. Rockjewel Nails
1. Pretty-Random

Moving on...

I might as well just get all of these out of the way. Holiday disappointments happen every year, what would the holidays be without them? You think your SO is getting you something special. Or anything. And you get...a laser pointer. Or nothing. You get a perfectly wrapped box and inside is...oh, what is it, it's heavy...is it that...nope. It's a GPS. Well, it's the thought that counts, really. Surely you don't hit the nail on the head every time either. 

This liquid sand was one I was looking forward too, but it turned out oddly bling-y and in these colors it looked sort of like an overdone Chanukah celebration or maybe a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader uniform. It took me about a month to realize the name, "Kiss Me at Midnight," referred to New Year's Eve. Soooo I guess bling isn't entirely inappropriate. 

Kiss Me at Midnight. 
Ring finger has one coat of It's Frosty Outside. Outdoor.

Closeup of Texture.

fjka;fjgioewr;jgior;jhikwpijagq093r0wpjgpifo

I truly thought that during my break I'd have more time. As it turns out I've had significantly less (or so it seems). I still love you, bloggy! At least I have had enough time to take more pictures, AND I finally got my good camera back, YAY, I just need to work on getting them cropped and posted. 

Here's a polish I thought I'd love, but I hate you, polish. HATE. It chipped overnight. It took FOREVER to dry. It still was streaky in three coats (no one else seemed to have this issue). And it was super ugly on me. Swatches of Turn it Around had made it a lemming, but it was a no go.

Also, a pinky nail broke while wearing it. I can't ever in my life remember breaking a pinky nail. So it was just a bad experience.

Speaking of turning things around, I know I could turn my attitude around here, but it's been a tough past month. However, I do have about a dozen awesome polish-y things planned what with all of the amazing generosity and good fortune I have experienced over the holidays <3 (tada, turned!)

Turn it Around. Outdoor semi-sunlight.

Turn it Around. Sunlight.

Turn it around. Close up of magical shimmer. Sunlight.

Turn it Around. Bottle.