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

holo gradient fail

It'll make me feel better to point out just a FEW things wrong about this--did I even clean this up? Didn't I know you're supposed to take pictures of holos in the sun? This makes me sad. Anyway, my original plain Cherubic nails chipped to fast to get pics and it had been really grey here. So...craptastic. Jacked up. Sorry. 

These Color Club Halo Hues holos are really holo and really cheap. I used an aqua base here. 

The layers are Jade Seducao Rose, China Glaze L8R G8R (nearly invisible), and Color Club Cherubic. 

Holo gradient with Color Club Cherubic

Holo gradient with Color Club Cherubic

Holo gradient with Color Club Cherubic

Second time's a charm

I decided I needed to conquer this gorgeous mint green. This is actually probably closer to my third or fourth try and after waiting for each coat to dry completely, I got it to work pretty well imo, though far from perfect. I looked at different swatches and noticed that there are almost no perfect (ah!! no offense) applications of Refresh-mint, and that's because quite honestly, it's a serious pita to apply. But worth the effort for that minty shade, despite the next day chipping.

This is probably one of my most proud mani days, haha.

China Glaze Refresh-mint. Artificial Light.

China Glaze Refresh-mint. Artificial Light.

Mints compared l to r: Refresh-mint, Milani Dressmaker, For Audrey.

Mints compared l to r: Refresh-mint, Milani Dressmaker, For Audrey.

jelly and glitter spam

I haven't left--I've just been working on pics like crazy. I hate imperfect pics and mine are far from that, but I think I've been getting more fervent in my obsession with details.

So without over thinking it, here are some craptastic pics of a jelly and glitter experiment that I didn't really like. Sandwich fail. OPI My Pointe Exactly and China Glaze Pizazz and some of Sinful Cinderella and Lynnderella New Year's Eve Eve.

I found some pics of a really old jelly glitter combo I did as well, so here's that. OPI Don't Touch My Tutu (a serious must for jelly sammiches) and Dollish Polish Hylian Princess.

My Point Exactly and Pizazz. Artificial horrible light.

My Point Exactly and Pizazz sandwich. Artificial light.

Don't Touch My Tutu and Hylian Princess. Natural Light.

Cinderella and New Year's Eve Eve.

Cinderella and New Year's Eve Eve.

Gobble Goblin

I'll call this my Thanksgiving mani though it wasn't. China Glaze Glitter Goblin and Essence Colour & Go Gorgeous Bling Bling. 

Glitter Goblin is an indeterminably colored (to me) little glitter (not micro glitter though?). The only glitter I can really determine the color of in this polish is the deep orange/red ochre colored glitter. The other glitter may just be a very holographic silver that flashes green, purple, and a bit gold. It's surprisingly sparse and patchy in application despite it's super glittery nature. Here's three coats. GG was SO HARD to remove. SO HARD! Also, it dried to a fairly gritty finish so I used two coats of my favorite HK Girl Top Coat (see picture) after waiting for it to dry a bit

Gorgeous Bling Bling is...well, a strange name for this polish. It does have yellow gold flakies and a bit of a shimmer, but it's not the polish I'd think of when I hear "bling." The base color is a somewhat burnt orange and reminds me a little of that Crayola crayon, "Bittersweet." The formula is great though--super smooth, opaque, and easy to apply. I love these Colour & Go polishes because even though their staying power is pretty bad, they dry faster than anything else I've used. I hope you've been able to try some, even if it's a funky color like this one ;p

Have you been seeing a lot of these orangey colors lately? RBL Santa Fe, OPI Schnapps Out of It...perhaps there are more?

Glitter Goblin and Gorgeous Bling Bling. Natural Light.

Glitter Goblin and Gorgeous Bling Bling. Natural Light.

Glitter Goblin and Gorgeous Bling Bling bottles. Natural Light.

Glitter Goblin and Hong Kong Girl Top Coat!

green g8torade

Just some quick bad pictures of the amazing polish from China Glaze, L8R G8R--a gorgeous linear holo. 

I took these awhile ago with my phone when I couldn't find my camera and I didn't have an aqua base so, there isn't much to say except, "daaaaaaaaayuuuufjdkl;ajgira;j this polish is pretty" and ...oh these pictures are not. Sorry. Will post new pictures WITH aqua base and better camera :) I wanted to keep the greens coming, though. 

L8R G8R, Sunlight.

L8R G8R, Artificial Light.

L8R G8R Bottle Shot. Indoor Sunlight.

For Audrey is a color I waited for awhile and has definitely become a staple in most polish lovers' collections. I own quite a few of these aqua and minty shades myself, but formula on them is tricky. For Audrey is no different and it is a little thick and draggy, but not un-doable, it just takes a little patience.

For Audrey. Artificial Light.

 I thought it might look cute with some glitters over it, so I tried some and settled on Aqua Daisy "Me Too," a matte mixed black and white glitter.

For Audrey with OPI Pirouette My Whistle topped with Don't Touch My Tutu, Aqua Daisy Me Too, Icing After Party, $OPI Sugar Plum Fairies Gone Wild, Sinful Green Ocean

For Audrey with Me Too. Artificial Light.

For Audrey and Me Too, bottles.

I really like Me Too as a substitute for the "original black and white glitter." It applies nicely and has the right shaped glitters for me. However, it seemed to yellow For Audrey ever so slightly. Can you tell?

I can't help but be drawn to pastels. Though I almost won't touch touch them in the clothing or accessories department, they were huge in the late 80s and the 90s and that is when I did most of my growing up (sort of). It's part of the color nostalgia of my generation. That and mauve.

The last polish I have from the China Glaze Up and Away collection: Refresh-mint. I have four or five colors that are in or near this minty/pastel turquoise color family and I did a few comparison swatches. 

Pastels seem to have a fast dry time which can be helpful, but I don't think they are known for their ease of application. I find the fast dry can also equal add to challenging application because it leads to dragging, especially at the tips (evident on nail wheel swatches). I encountered this dry-time effect with Refresh-mint.

In pics I swatched it next to Mint Candy Apple (left), I think it looks close in the pictures, but also is a bit more toward being a light baby blue with green mixed in, slightly muted, where Refresh is more of a true pastel lime. I also added in Nicole by OPI My Lifesaver because I thought it would be similar. Obviously it is way off (in pics and real life) and more like a blue-leaning turquoise. 

Two more I might have added would be Milani Dressmaker which I couldn't find the YSL mint green from the Spring Duo no.7 which I didn't think to do. Oops O.o

 Refresh-Mint. Sunlight.

Refresh-Mint. Mint Candy Apple. My Life Saver. Refresh-Mint. Shade.

Mint Candy Apple. My Life Saver. Refresh-Mint. Artificial Light.

One of my first nail pictures. Refresh-Mint with Spoiled Don't Pet My Peacock and Trust Fund Baby topped with Don't Touch my Tutu.

Late to Spring cont'd

More from the China Glaze Up and Away collection, Lucky Clover is a beautiful, bright bold cream and for me this polish glided on so shiny and smoothly; it was a dream to apply. You might be able to get by with one coat, but I did two. 

I haven't seen a lot of colors like this, though with the recent influx of greens, I guess there have been some, I just don't own any. Maybe if Milani's Fresh Teal and Essie Pretty Edgy had a baby it could be Lucky Clover's cousin.

I think my pictures show Lucky a little more blue and definitely more muted than in real life. I found it to be greener and much brighter than my camera was able to capture. One unlucky thing was that it chipped in one day (all the CG polishes I've worn have), but I definitely feel lucky wearing it :)

Lucky Clover. Sun Light.

Lucky Clover. Artificial Light.

Lucky Clover. Shaded Indoors.

Way Late to Spring

Yes, I'm over a month late for Spring, and two years late for this collection but I wanted to show do some Spring colors from the China Glaze Up and Away collection. Pastels and brights like that have been a hit for the past couple Spring seasons and tend to move into some Summer brighters and neons, so that might be a good path to take :)

First up in this series I will post Lemon Fizz. While the color may be quite cute, I found the application to be quite messy both times I tried :/ 

The consistency was interesting. I found it possible to make coats thin, yet it required thick coats to get even coverage. I'd call it chalky, which seems common in pastels. 

Back in the day I seem to recall this brand of makeup called "Jane" (this brand can still be found sometimes, in some discount outlets) that had a color called Taxi. Lemon Fizz reminds of Jane's Taxi. It's not good on my yellowy skin, but as my Taxi shades and Lemon Fizz can attest to, I seem to love yellows, even if yellow pigments seem to make polish application a bee. 

Honestly, it's a good thing my pictures turned out a little blurry, cos my application is pretty uh-uh. Sadly, I couldn’t wear Lemon Fizz as a mani because it was so challenging to appy I couldn’t even apply it on my dominant hand! 

Lemon Fizz. Sun Light.

Lemon Fizz. Artificial Light.