Primary Colors Dry Brush Mani

Something New

Finger Paints - Surf's Up

Twinsie Tuesday: Gradient + Stamping

Twinsie Tuesday: Inspired by a hobby/interest outside of polish

OPI - Fly

Sorry for not posting for a while! I'm trying to get back into it for fall! Right now I'm trying to catch up on comments so here's a simple swatch I found from ages ago.

This is OPI Fly from the Nicki Minaj collection. 2 coats, nice smooth application. Formula was a bit thick but in a way that made it easy to apply.

Teal Creme/Texture Chevrons with Born Pretty Store Nail Vinyls

Layla No. 19

Monday Blues: Blue/Teal Ombre

Nicole by OPI - That's What I Mint - Gumdrops Collection Texture polish

Swatch: Sephora + Pantone Universe - Evergreen

I bought this polish a while ago when I went to Vegas... back in October. It sat in my untrieds for the longest time. It looks really blah in the bottle and you can't see the gorgeous duochrome shift until it's on the nail. Usually it's the other way around where it looks gorgeous in the bottle and the duochrome isn't as obvious on the nail. Because of that I actually forgot why I bought it lol. Usually I'm not really a fan of green but I love the teal/blue shift this has! Unfortunately I found the shift wasn't that obvious in real life. It showed up well under the lamp that I use for my nail pictures but in other lighting wasn't as visible. I ended up doing a gradient over it and then trying out the black spotted technique... see that mani here

I used 2 coats for this swatch. The brush was shorter than normal and didn't hold much polish. I barely wiped off any polish from the brush and still had to re-dip into the bottle for each nail. I found that the polish kind of stuck to the nail rather than flowing nicely and I needed more polish than usual. Once I got that figured out though the polish didn't give me any problems. The brush was small and had good control. The polish felt a bit thin and flaky on the nail though, although this may have just been my topcoat or something? I used Mavala Barrier Base coat and Seche Vite top coat.

Essie - Dive Bar

Essie - Dive Bar (2 coats)
base: Essie - Grow Stronger, top coat: Seche Vite

I saw this at Walgreens in Vegas a while ago and picked it up. Essie is a few dollars cheaper in the states than it is here in Canada so I bought this on a whim. Usually I will look at swatches/reviews on my phone before purchasing but since I was on vacation I didn't want to use 3G since it would be really expensive with roaming. In the bottle, this looks like a beautiful dark teal shimmer with a purple duochrome shift. Unfortunately, the purple duochrome shift does not show up at all on the nail. You can see it in the bottle shot below.

Next time I wear this I think I'll try Orly Royal Velvet on top to get a purple duochrome. Although I was disappointed that the polish didn't have the purple duochrome shift I was hoping for, I still really like this polish overall. It is a nice shimmery dark teal that can look a bit black at the edges but glows in the middle of the nail when the light hits it. It is not so dark that it is almost black though thanks to the shimmer. It can look more blue or more green depending on the lighting which makes it more interesting. 

As with all other Essie polishes I've tried, application was excellent. The polish was the perfect consistency - not too thick or too thin and very easy to control. They also have an amazing brush that is not too wide or too thin for me. I think I only had to do clean up on 2 nails! 

Wear time with this polish was insane. I've been wearing this for a week now and I still don't have any chips! (I accidentally smudged my pinky while it was still wet if you were noticing that spot). There is a teeny bit of tip wear but much much less than usual. It has lost most of it's gloss and the shimmer is not very noticeable anymore. Reapplying top coat would probably restore the gloss and shimmer. However, I think if people didn't know what polish you were wearing they would just think that the polish was always that way and wouldn't know that you've had it on forever like me. I've been feeling like I'm starting to get sick so I've been really tired and just way too lazy to change my polish. I am getting bored of this one though (I usually change my polish every 3-4 days) so I will probably remove it in the next few days even if it doesn't chip by then.

How long do you usually wear a polish before changing it? What is your personal record for most time with the same mani? Any other recommendations for long wearing polishes?

Thanks for reading! :)

Victoriana + Teal Me I'm Awesome

Butter - Victoriana

Icing - Teal Me I'm Awesome

Deborah Lippmann - Flat Top (Matte Top Coat)

The above picture isn't color accurate but I posted it anyway because I got a better shot of the glitter and finish.

This picture is much more color accurate. A muted, dusty light teal.

Here's the mani before I made it matte. Butter - Victoriana and Icing - Teal Me I'm Awesome with one coat of Seche Vite 

Bottle shot of Icing - Teal Me I'm Awesome

Butter - Victoriana on it's own

I wasn't really a fan of Victoriana on it's own. The color and finish were both interesting and unique, but just not enough for me. The application on this was very good, completely smooth in 2 coats with no brush strokes. I was disappointed that I had tipwear so fast though, at less than a day. I don't think I'll buy Butter polish again because it is really expensive ($17 in Canada at Holt Renfrew) and doesn't wear that well for the price.

Icing is an offshoot of Claire's accessories stores. Icing polishes come in bottles very similar to China Glaze's bottles while the Claire's ones come in bottles very similar to Seche Vite bottles. The glitter in Teal Me I'm Awesome was annoying to get on the nail. It didn't want to come off the brush and I had to poke and prod at it with the brush to get a decent amount of glitter on the nail. What you see is one thick coat with much annoyance and dabbing. It also looks like the larger hex pieces are curling up at the sides the way the light is hitting them, although the surface still feels smooth. I think maybe the hex glitter isn't flat to begin with because they look a bit curved even in the bottle. These are fairly cheap though ($5 but buy 1 get the 2nd half price so $3.75 if you buy 2) so I guess I can't complain too much. 

I really liked the way the teal glitter bits looked over Victoriana but I didn't like the silver hex pieces as much. I like this mani way more with Teal Me I'm Awesome mattified (yes that is now a word) since it gives a softer look and just makes everything more unified.