Zoya - Penny

Hi everyone! I'm sorry I wasn't on time with this update, Florida's weather is still finicky. I may get an Ott-Lite if this keeps up. I apologize in advance if these pictures aren't the best, I took them in fluorescent light and had to adjust them quite a bit. I just wanted to give you an idea of it. Honestly, the best swatch you could see of Penny is, well, a nice new copper penny! It really does look like your nails are covered in shiny copper, it's a great effect. Since it's metallic, it does have some brushstrokes, but it's nothing terrible. It covered evenly in two coats. I got this from Zoya's recent buy one get two free promo. The other colors I got were Shay and Zara, so expect to see those up in the near future.

Click to enlarge.

Zoya - Rica

Hi everyone! After the quick foray into Fall from my last post, I'm bringing it back to Summer today. It's still plenty hot and bright here in the Sunshine State, after all. :) Rica is from the recent Sunshine collection to which Faye also belongs. Both are great, sparkly shades for whenever you need a little sparkle in your life. Rica really screams Summer to me, though. It has a juicy coral pink base full of golden shimmer that is almost blinding in the sunlight. Zoya always does an amazing job with these glass-fleck type finishes. It does take 3 coats to become opaque but it's for the best, thin coats mean the sparkle comes out better in my experience. I'm trying to swap for the rest of the Sunshine collection, I want them all!

Click to enlarge.

Chanel - Paradoxal

Hi everyone! Sorry I'm late again. The first week of school has been busy but fun. I figured I'd pick out a nice color, something reserved but still interesting. I got Chanel Paradoxal last year when it released and I think I've only worn it once before. I don't buy many Chanel polishes, mostly because none of the colors jump out at me too much. I did recently get Peridot and plan on wearing it soon, so keep an eye out for it. Paradoxal is a deep smoky purple-grey with purple shimmer that only emerges in the sunlight. If you took Zoya Kelly, replaced the blue tone with purple and added shimmer, you'd have Paradoxal. It's a really cool, chic Fall color. My FAVORITE part of this polish is the formula. It went on so smoothly, it was almost like the brush was moving itself. I did need three coats but most people would probably be fine with two, I'm just extremely picky about thin spots even if I'm the only one who can see them. I will say though that it does seem to be somewhat chippy, I got little nicks on both my thumbnails but it's nothing terrible by any means. This is long gone from counters but Barry M, a European brand, makes a good dupe called Dusky Mauve that's supposed to be a perfect copy. Much cheaper, too!

Click to enlarge.

China Glaze - Peace on Earth

Hello everyone! It's the time of year when summer starts winding down and everyone heads back to 'real life'. I'm about to begin my next year of school so I thought I'd pick a polish that somewhat represents my school's colors, green and gold. China Glaze's Peace on Earth is a Christmas color from last year that I got in a MUA swap. It's a really pretty olive color full of gold shimmer that runs through it like little rivers. It is somewhat similar to Nina Ultra Pro's Mossy Britches but MB is a little darker and dustier. PoE applied really smoothly in two coats and has held up well through all the packing and moving that comes with heading back to school. The tipwear you see here is after about 5 days of wear including lots of packing and lifting and hauling, so it looks great!

Click to enlarge.

Color Club - Electro Candy

Hi there! Here's a little something to brighten your day, literally. I picked up Color Club's Electro Candy collection from Ross a long time ago but have only swatched one of the colors before this, Tangerine Scream. I felt like putting on something bright so I chose the pink of the collection, Electro Candy! All of the colors in this collection have a really pretty blue flash to them (except for TS, which flashes white) and it looks really cool against the neon pink of EC. It's certainly an attention-getting shade! I was pretty pleased with the application, it was very smooth and not streaky in the slightest. However, being a neon, it was fairly sheer and needed 4 coats to reach opacity. You can't see any nail line in the pictures but I can see a little bit in person at certain angles. My only complaint with this is that it seemed to take much longer than normal to dry! I always use a quick drying topcoat; in fact, the one I'm currently using is what came with this collection, the Vivid topcoat. My nails are usually fully, completely dry after 30-45 minutes but even after an hour I managed to get some dents and smudges with this polish. It only happened on 2 or 3 of my nails though, but it was still surprising to me. Overall I really like this color and think it's a great, fun shade for summer. :)

Click to enlarge.

Orly - Galaxy Girl

Hello there! Today's post is a really unique shade, I think. Galaxy Girl came out in last year's Cosmic FX collection and while the most talked about shade of that was Space Cadet (which is beautiful), I think GG was the most interesting. The base is a sort of brownish red purple and it's full of duochrome sparkle that shifts from teal to dark pink. It might sound sort of gross but it reminds me of a very pretty bruise. Definitely unusual. The teal sparkle is the most obvious, the dark pink seems to come out more in the shade for me. I hope you can see it alright in the indoors picture below. The formula was good, very even and smooth and I got full opacity at 3 coats. I should really get more polishes from Orly, everything I've tried has been great! I'm looking forward to the upcoming Mineral FX collection. And I can't bring up Orly now without mentioning Fowl Play from their current Fall release. It's a pretty close duplicate of OPI  Merry Midnight, a rather coveted color. I know that some people won't be satisfied unless they have the original but I'm glad there's an easier option out now for those who don't care too much. :)

Click to enlarge.

Sinful Colors - Innocent

Hello! I've got a new favorite to show you today. Sinful Colors make up almost a whole drawer on their own in my collection for a good reason, they have great colors and pretty good formula for really cheap. I love greens so I had to get Innocent when I saw it. It's a very interesting color.. very yellow, slightly murky. I think dirty chartreuse is the best way to describe it. It's certainly bright! The formula is a jelly-creme, meaning it can get streaky on you if your coats are very thin. I did one thin coat and then one thick coat on top. Since the formula is on the thin side, the thick coat did run into my cuticles a little bit but I always do cleanup anyways, so it wasn't a big deal. It evened out nicely with a great shine that only got glossier when I added topcoat. I really love these slightly unusual colors and I'm glad that Sinful Colors is there to bring some diversity to the drugstore nail polish range.

Click to enlarge.

China Glaze - Ahoy!

Based on the number of polishes from the Anchors Away collection I've swatched here, it might be fair to say it's been my favorite of the year. I've shown you First Mate, Life Preserver, and Sea Spray before, so here's Ahoy! to round it out. Ahoy! is well-pigmented like the rest, needing only two coats. It's a yummy juicy raspberry pink full of pink-gold shimmer that unfortunately isn't showing up too well here. I've worn this on both my fingers and toes and it's just such a great summer color.

Click to enlarge.

OPI - Glamour Game

Hello! I have another frosty polish for you today. I don't know why but I've been drawn to them lately. I know a lot of people don't like them but I do, on occasion. Glamour Game is a silvery-beige color with fine gold glitter distributed sparsely in it. It's an interesting color, neutral without being boring. My only complaint is that it is fairly sheer, what you see here is 3 coats and you can definitely see my nails. I've been picking these OPIs up at my local Publix grocery stores and it's kinda cool to see what you can find.

Click to enlarge.

Sephora by OPI - Leaf Him At The Altar

Hello! Today's polish is one of the few Sephora by OPIs I have in my collection. Their colors aren't generally stand-outs but you get some real winners from time to time! Leaf Him At The Altar is a light green full of silver shimmer, really the closest I think I've gotten to finding a true green foil polish. It reminds me a lot of sage plants, very calming color. If you don't like frosts or frost-ish colors you might want to avoid this one though, as you can see in the sun it does show brushstrokes. It's not too bad, though. This went on smoothly in 3 coats with no problems.

Click to enlarge.