Bloggles

Hello! Long time no see, nail polish! I’ve been wearing it regularly but have been slacking off in taking pictures. I thought I would finally try out the light box David got me for our anniversary and document the pink polish that is on my nails because I don’t think this will be happening again any time soon, especially not within the next three months, anyway. I’ve had this on for a good 2 days now (excuse the tip wear) and it has been a struggle to fight off the urge to replace it with the darker, vampier shades I’ve been sporting as of late. OPI’s Windy City Pretty is a dusty kind of pink (but not as dusty as I was initially hoping) with a bit of secret shimmer. You can hardly see it but, ladies and gentleman, it is there upon closer inspection. I  never considered myself a pink kind of gal but this shade is passable. It’s not diabetically pastel and has purpley/blue undertones that have allowed me to accept it over the last few days. I think it will make a lovely spring shade that is still somewhat bold – a more vibrant alternative to the washed out pastels that were released over the last spring. This, I believe was a part of the Chigaco Collection in 2005.

This is more or less what it looks like in real life… if you can picture it without the glare. Sorry, still experimenting with my new set-up!

Speaking of which, I thoguht I would post a few photos of what it looks like for anyone interseted. It’s totally self-contained and comes with two lights, a tripod and a back drop. Totally awesome!

Hehe, the display pic even shows the same camera that I use! This is me, guys, except I use the grey backdrop… and the toy car would be a bottle of nail polish!

And another shot for those lacking in imagination

Oops. Not a lot of polish, lately. I guess that’s a reflection of where it’s been on my list of priorities recently. I’ve been wearing it but I haven’t been bothered to take photos but I think this will turn around soon since I have a new light box to play with The dear boyfriend got me one for our anniversary (thanks (_I_)head!), so be prepared for some absolutely PRO shots in the near future, haha.

ulta3 – wild berry

I love ulta3 polishes! At only $2 a pop, who wouldn’t? I got this from Pulse Pharmacy and was even more delighted when it scanned through at only $1.60. I later discovered that they were having a 20% off sale… and I only got one!! What’s going on? I didn’t even go back inside to buy more. Come to think of it, I haven’t really been buying any polish lately which I suppose, is a good thing.

Anyway, this applied nicely enough in two coats and lasted just as long as other brands. I really love the colour, it’s perfect for when black is just too dark (or too done) or when China Glaze – Recycle is just too light. Well done, ulta3!

China Glaze – Oxygen

I loved this when I was wearing it. Sadly, that was a very long time ago because I have been so diligent in updating my blog (har). I think it was good to go in around 3 coats, but I’m pretty sure I applied more for extra measure. These light colours (sheers? neutrals? I dunno, whatever) are a pain in the arse to get opaque and non-streaky but this one is one of the better ones. I have OPI’s Time-less is more as well and tested it out on my pinky – Oxygen definitely had better coverage.

OPI – Barefoot in Barcelona

Man, I remember wanting this so bad when the España collection first came out. WHHYYYYY? I don’t know either. Perhaps I need to be white, like the people I have seen this look good on. Heh.

http://stupidnailpolishnames.blogspot.com/

Purple Crème Comparison Mani

Excuse the terribly noisy photo, I got lazy and jacked the ISO up to 400 because I was having trouble keeping my hand still. As you can see, OPI PP and OPI CYDI? are very close. PP is slightly warmer/more red if you look closely but they are practically dupes to each other while the Misa (ring finger) was just in a darker, cooler and more blue league of its own.

Here we have (Index to Pinkie): OPI – Pamplona Purple, OPI – Can You Dig It?, Misa – Sorry Just Can’t Help It and OPI – Pamplona Purple.

Rimmel 60 seconds – Blue Me Away

I wore this colour for all of one day, I guess I wasn’t really in the mood for this one. It’s a lovely colour, though, blue with fine purple shimmer that would be highly visible in the sun. Unfortunately there was none of that when I took these pictures. Appearance aside, I noted that Rimmel’s claim to drying in 60 seconds actually affected my application of it – it would start drying before I was done but that’s probably just user-error because I’m still quite slow at painting.

Outdoors – overcast

An Indoor shot. The shimmer is slightly visible here on the index nail but very noticeable in good light in real life.

Essie – St Lucia Lilac

This is St Lucia Lilac which was good in two coats. Of course, it lived up to Essie’s notoriety of being streaky but I was pleased to find that it evened out nicely by the 2nd coat. I absolutely loooooved this colour and am ever so grateful to Michelyne over at Enamel Coated for sending this over to me in a give away she had a while ago. This is the polish that started a light pastel crème craze for me. I had previously steered clear of them in fears that they would turn out too stark against my skin but I loved this every minute I had it on. I still have China Glaze – Sun Showers to swatch which was a condition of entry for the comp but curiosity to try this one first bowled me over. Oops! Sun Showers is coming soon!

Outdoors – overcast

Indoor shot

And another against white paper. Yep, it’s lilac.

Illamasqua – MILF

This colour was absolute loooooooove! When the mint green craze started I wasn’t sure if I was going to be participating because I had doubts that it would look any good with my skin tone. Memories came rushing back to me from when I was in Year 4 – I wore a similarly coloured polish to school only to have my teacher ask me if I was ill because apparently my nails made me look like I was I’ve always liked pastel green as a colour, it’s quite soothing to look at so I took a chance with MILF and I’m glad I did. You will have noticed that this particular example leans yellow in comparison to other similar polishes, it’s not a clean, crisp mint but I think this is what made it work for me (and my Asian skin). I absolutely love it!

2 obese coats

Again, in the sunshine

Now, let’s talk application. All I’ve heard about Illamaqua polishes thus far is that their formula is to die for. Buttery smooth and well pigmented. This for me, however, wasn’t the case. It was thick and gloopy and a bit difficult to work with. I was really disappointed because I paid a mint (har!) for this but can’t totally fault it because the colour is awesome and because I’m pretty sure there was just something wrong with my bottle (dried out a little, perhaps?). Despite all that, there was evidence of that legendary formula in there somewhere. I’m sure that it will be fantastic after I add a few drops of thinner – I’m just a bit scared of doing this because I’m still unsure about B3F polishes and non-B3F thinner (which is all I have in possession at the moment). Pigmentation was good and it would’ve been opaque in one coat if I had mad skillz.

Now, here’s something I discovered when I first got this. MILF was made in Australia! It pains me to know that I waited weeks for this to ship to me from the UK when it was originally made here. I would have saved a buttload in shipping and carbon emissions if I could have just gotten this here! Poo.

OPI – Apricot-cha Cheating

Next up is Apricot-cha Cheating from the Las Vegas Collection 2003 (sadly, discontinued now). I thought the name for this one was a bit weird and lame (trying a bit too hard to play on ‘apricot’, perhaps?) until I realised what the running theme was. But anyway, it’s an apricot creme and I think it was good in 3 coats. Maybe 2, my memory fails me. It’s what I originally wanted Back to the Beach Peach Pit to be (based on pictures I’ve seen) but I have since made peace with that polish and maybe even like it more than this one For those looking for a dupe, I wore this at the same time I painted Robyn’s nails with Color Club – Coral Cascade and they were virtually identical.

China Glaze – Shower Together

Good in two coats. This colour is gorgeous but I can’t see myself wearing it as often as others which is why it was perfect for the camping trip we went on at the beginning of the year. I don’t even  know how to describe it. Bluey-tealish-aqua? I don’t know. My photo is preee-eetty close to what it looked like in real life, though, I edited the pic which is why my hands look like I have boiled them in hot water. Just ignore that

Misa – Fashionista

I kind of went nuts with these kinds of shroomy/taupey colours after falling in love with Channelesque (below) which led to my fling with Fashionista. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out between us because it didn’t look as good as I had hoped with my skin tone. Sorry, but that’s a deal breaker for me. It’s up for swapsies on MUA now, but it doesn’t seem like anyone wants to swap with an Australian girl considering it’s easily accessible through etailers. Boo. This was good in two coats.

China Glaze – Channelesque

Last but not least, my Holy Grail ’shroomer’. A wonderful purpley-grey-taupe with killer application. This my friends, is a one coat wonder. It glided on smooth and buttery and I had no troubles with it whatsoever. Unfortunately, this one, I’m pretty sure, is also discontinued. It’s one of only two colours I have a back-up bottle of in my collection, heh!

One coat wonder! (1.5 coats for me because I am not that good with application). Love! Love! Love!