painting with polish

road house blues

2011-11-21T15:37:00.000-08:00

OPI's Autumn collection, Touring America, had me completely wowed from the get go but to be fair most Autumn collections are right up my alley. I love those dark/muted vampy colours and Road House Blues is no exception. This dark blackened blue is gorgeous. It can look black in extremely low light but for the most part its blueness really stays true. All in all a glossy lovely polish.

classic camel

2011-11-12T17:37:00.000-08:00

China Glaze's Classic Camel is a polish that I love on other people but unfortunately on me, it does not work. It actually manages to make my hands look a little sickly which is awkward. Sigh. Think I might have to find a new home for this little gem unless I can think of a way to make it complement my pink toned skin.

ginger bells, ginger bells, ginger all the way

2011-11-05T20:28:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure why it's been so long since I've posted on here. Could be the trip I took to Melbourne. Could be Nanowrimo. Could be the nasty bout of flu I'm just getting over or it could be I just felt like a break. Whatever the case it feels good to be typing up this post and looking at how pretty OPI's Ginger Bells is! Ginger Bells came out with a holiday collection from a few years back and it is stunning! So glad to have picked this one up from one of the many handy dandy e-tailers about the place. Do any of you guys own Ginger Bells and if so how do you like it?

neeka

2011-10-22T21:35:00.000-07:00

Neeka is the first polish from Zoya's Smoke and Mirrors collection that I've actually tried on my nails and let me tell you, it is going to be a hard act to follow. Neeka is a gorgeously complex muted purple with golden shimmer. I am super in love with this polish and if I thought I'd ever actually finish a bottle I would have no doubts about getting a back up.

absolutely alice

2011-10-19T16:09:00.000-07:00

Absolutely Alice is the only Alice in Wonderland polish I own from OPI's 2010 collection. It's a beautiful blue glitter polish with flecks of gold and silver. This is one fun polish to wear even if it's far less of a joy to remove. I'd wear this more often if I wasn't so lazy. x

sparrow me the drama

2011-10-17T18:45:00.000-07:00

For a polish I originally passed up on I love this an awful lot. It's feminine and soft and oh so sweet but that slight duskyness makes it just that little bit more interesting and ever so much more appealing to me. Like everyone else I was surprised at the colour choices for the OPI Pirates of the Caribbean collection but I do think it worked in the end and I am quite pleased at having this gorgeous, more complex then they may first appear, polishes in my collection. Sparrow Me the Drama being no exception. x

I eat mainely lobster

2011-10-09T18:24:00.000-07:00

I can't get over how much I love I Eat Mainely Lobster from OPI's Fall Collection. I obviously thought it was pretty and liked it enough to pick it up in the first place but I had no idea I would love it as much as I do. Bright orange/coral gorgeousness with subtle but pretty shimmer. Love it! It's so bright and cheerful but very feminine and chic at the same time. Well worth looking in to if you passed this one by the first time.

lowndes square

2011-10-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

Lowndes Square by Nails Inc is a dusky grayed out lavender and it is gorgeous! It was part of Nails Incs Autumn collection from last year I believe. I'm unsure if this polish is still readily available but if it is I suggest picking it up. the application was lovely and the wear time was great. I wore this for 4 days before I got bored and switched things up and it still looked great when I took it off. Brilliant. x

charming chubby cheeks

2011-10-03T22:11:00.000-07:00

Chubby Cheeks from Essie is a dusky orange with a hint of coral and it's absolutely lovely. It's bright but not too in your face. It's glossy and opaque and just an all round fab polish. Very glad to have picked this one up recently.

julieanne

2011-10-01T19:23:00.000-07:00

Julieanne is probably one of the more well known shades that Zoya does and it's not difficult to see why. It's a stunning glittery/shimmery deep grape purple with a slight golden duo-chrome (which you can see in my bottle picture). It's just crazy gorgeous and I loved having it on my little stubby nails. x

give me the moon

2011-09-29T17:25:00.000-07:00

I haven't worn OPI's Give Me the Moon in what feels like an age and I have no idea why since it's such a beautiful and unique colour (at least to my collection). Give Me the Moon is a soft gray/blue polish with a subtle blue duochrome. It looks so feminine and sweet to my eyes. Such a dainty shade but with the slight edge that more neutral/natural tones can bring. A classic for sure.

truly tristam

2011-09-26T19:46:00.000-07:00

This is the last of my A-England polishes that I currently own but I believe they're bringing out a new collection soon so that's exciting! Tristam is a deep blue holographic polish. I'm currently still wearing this on my toes and I absolutely love it. You don't see many darker holos (I'm assuming because they're more difficult to produce?) so when I first heard about Tristam and it's purple sister, Lady of the Lake (which I've previously shown here), I knew I had to have them. Simply stunning even for someone who's up in the air about the holo craze like myself.

demure vixen

2011-09-24T17:43:00.000-07:00

Demure Vixen by Essie is the most beautiful lavender toned nude polish I've ever come across. I love it! It's glossy and feminine and understated and just makes your hands look fresh and clean. This is the perfect polish to throw on when you don't know quite what you're in the mood for. x

luxe lapis amethyst

2011-09-22T15:33:00.000-07:00

I tried to capture just how amazingly pretty Lapis Amethyst from the Sally Hansen Nail Prisms line is but the sun was setting and I wasn't really too successful... but hopefully you get the idea. This polish completely had me mesmerised. It shifts from purple to green to pink to silver depending on the lighting. So gorgeous! I think next time I wear this I'll try it over black but I really enjoyed wearing it on it's own. Truly lovely! x

mrs robinson

2011-09-18T21:41:00.000-07:00

I think Mrs Robinson from Color Club a summer or two ago is one of the funnest polishes to wear that I own. It's a gorgeous neon purple and I freaking love it! It's bright and lovely but still kind of understated (if neon can be understated). I would live in this polish if I didn't think it would hurt the feelings of all my other many many polishes...

copper penny perfection

2011-09-16T18:18:00.000-07:00

Copper Penny is one of Revlon's Metallic polishes released earlier in the year and I was very excited to try this when it was first released but for some reason kept putting it off until now... Oh well. Finally having it on my nails, I was struck with just how much shimmer there is in this polish it's quite eye catching and beautiful. Shall certainly be wearing this again in the coming months. x

masterfully mata hari

2011-09-12T18:39:00.000-07:00

Mata Hari by Zoya is a gorgeous shimmery burgundy with a fantastic formula. It practically painted itself onto my nails and was perfect in two coats. It feels rather chic and grown up to me, if that makes sense and I can't figure out why I waited so long to try it. Love it! x

an affair to remember

2011-09-11T20:24:00.000-07:00

Let me just premise this post by saying my pictures don't do this polish any justice at all. An Affair to Remember is a polish from before China Glaze became 3free so the formulation was pretty fantastic. These pictures below are only one coat and in real life it looked perfect. AATR is a glowy metallic red with a slight pink tint and to be honest this was another polish that I only sought out because of the name... An Affair to Remember is a heartbreakingly gorgeous film starring the very lovely Cary Grant (swoon!) and i couldn't resist acquiring a polish with the same name but I'm very glad I'm such a sucker because I actually really love this polish. Tres beautiful!

little brown dress

2011-09-09T18:00:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to trying Little Brown Dress by Essie. I've heard that people tend to have mixed feelings about this polish and I can see why. The formulations great. It was perfect in two coats and dried to a glossy finish but in most light I found that it simply looked black. Which I didn't mind too much since it still looked lovely and glossy and vampy but I do prefer when a polish shows up truer to bottle colour but oh well I still enjoyed wearing it but I'm not too worried that I only have the mini bottle.

super skyscraper

2011-09-08T16:27:00.000-07:00

Skyscraper is the second polish from China Glazes Metro Collection that I've tried and it's a gorgeous blue and silver glitter. Surprisingly it wasn't overly gritty when it dried and a top coat made it practically perfect. I adored wearing this polish and can see me getting quite a lot of use out of it. x

mystic elements

2011-09-07T22:59:00.000-07:00

I don't have a ton of Duri polishes but I can honestly say I have yet to be disappointed by a single polish of theirs I've tried. The one I have for you today is Mystic Elements (which I believe is from the Angels and Demons collection...). It's a deep maroon base with gorgeous, very fine red glitter and I loved wearing this. So lovely. It was flattering and chic but the glitter added an element of fun. Such a brilliant polish! x

utterly urban night

2011-09-07T01:53:00.000-07:00

Urban Night from the China Glaze Metro collection is such a frustrating polish! It's beautiful but they way it changed colour on me in different lights drove me a bit mad. In some lights it looked like the lovely dark eggplant purple it is but in others it looked either black or like a deep wine red. V.odd. I kept looking down at my fingers thinking I was wearing something like OPI's William Tell Me About OPI. Now that I know what to expect from it I don't think it will bother me when I wear it in the future but it did throw me at first, not getting as much out of that lovely purple colour in the bottle as I thought i would.

don't think twice

2011-09-03T17:24:00.000-07:00

Don't Think Twice is another polish from Duri's Back To Classics Collection and I'm in love. It's a beautiful dove gray with a slight blueish tint. There's also some hidden silvery shimmer but it's a bit shy and only shows up every so often. I wore this for about 5 days. Only just took it off minutes before I started typing this up. although, after the first couple of days I added a coat of Last Friday Night by OPI and it looked rather lovely. Should have taken a pic but I'm rubbish and never got around to it...

you're a doll

2011-09-01T16:18:00.000-07:00

You're a Doll is from one of the OPI holiday collections from a couple of years ago. 2009, I believe... Anyway, not the point. The point is, this is fast becoming one of my all time favourite polishes. If I had a definitive top 10 this would have a place no questions asked. It's a gorgeous grayed out pinky mauve with flecks of silver and copper. It is amazing. Unlike anything else I own and just so flattering. I can't get enough of this polish! I'm actually thinking about seeking out a backup and I'm not really a backup kind of person. It's just that good!

funny face

2011-08-30T16:17:00.000-07:00

I don't usually go for such 'obvious' pinks but Funny Face is one of my favourite movies so I just couldn't resist. I'm actually really glad I'm a sucker for names because I ended up really enjoying wearing this polish! It's such a fun happy looking shade. Really lifted my mood! So thanks Essie, you surprised me again.

and just for the hell of it here's a picture of dear old Fred and Audrey in Funny Face.

Aren't they lovely!