Zoya Kendal

**Check out the updated price on my fire sale!**

(2 coats)

Zoya had a promo a couple months ago (what else is new) and I thought I would test out a color from a collection that seemed made for me. ("Feel").

The color wore very well, this is after a couple days' wear. However, application was a bit gummy.


(top and third - St. Lucia, second and bottom - Kendal)

Sadly, I realized I had a fairly close polish in Essie St. Lucia Lilac.

Key differences:
- Essie's formula is better.
- Essie's has an invisible shimmer (which you can see in the bottle but not on the nail, I'm convinced this is a way to get the polish to apply a little more smoothly).
- Zoya's polish is much dustier and is a touch pinker.

This was a toughy since I like the color of Kendal better but the formula of St. Lucia Lilac better. Which would you pick?

They're JUST different enough to keep both, but I have set a goal to get myself to under 300 polishes so I had to get one of them and I went with last in, first out.

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Party nails!

As I type, it's my best friend's hen do today! (It's actually her *wedding* today in PoP post-world, but I scheduled this one in advance since I am not planning on being anywhere near a computer for the next 24 hours). I have to leave in two hours and am, predictably, not in the slightest bit ready, but I did do my nails last night. I wanted something to tie together the things I wanted to wear (cream, black, brown) with the things I will have to wear as part of the deal (a pink top hat). So the cream matches my outfit, one of the spot colours matches the hat, and one matches my lipstick.

These are all colours I've used before. This is three coats of Illamasqua Load, with spots in Illamasqua Obsess and OPI Conquistadorable color. Load is the only problem child in the Illamasqua family application wise (not surprising for something that is equal parts white and yellow) but it looks great on me, so I don't mind. The spots and just freehanded blobs, which was a bit tricky with the pro-wide brush but came out OK in the end. The overall effect reminds me of Emma Bridgewater pottery, which wasn't intentional but is, I think, a nice thing to be reminded of.

Finally I took a couple of shots of the OPI bottle because the last time I wore it, a commenter took issue with me including it in the pink family for a series I was doing. Which is fair enough - it's a rose red. But it does have a definite sorbet pink undertone which I tried and failed to show here. It's a lovely shade anyway.

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Cute name, same colour - OPI Matched Luggage

This is one of the older OPI's I've always kind of wanted. It's been in the back of my mind for a few years now. Sadly, the only reason I ever wanted it was because I loved the name! And equally sadly, that's probably the only reason to keep it!

OPI Matched Luggage...

Not a bad polish at all - I just have so many like it already, with a better formula/brush for my personal tastes (see Essie It's in the Bag - they are almost identical).

I probably won't keep it, but I will recommend it. It's very pretty if a nice pale clean sheer is what you're after!

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NYX Jungle

(Jungle and I have already parted ways but I still have a set of polishes available on my fire sale.)

(3 coats)

This color is a NYX classic. The formula was lovely. It was a bit sheer but I think that's necessary for the gold shimmer to shine through to maximum effect. I'm glad I got to finally try this color, but it has moved to a home that will appreciate it more.

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OPI Lincoln Park After Dark

OK, so everyone has this polish. Everyone except me. I suddenly decided that I HAD TO HAVE IT (which may or may not have come as a result of me accidentally hacking half my index fingernail off with a bread knife, and deciding to embrace it with nubbins and vampy polishes).

I do love the colour - dark raisin. Really gorgeous. But this chipped like a mofo on me, which I think may be my own fault - in my impatience I ordered a bottle off a private seller on ebay (OPI over here is like £10-12 from the etailers, and I couldn't be bothered to wait for a bottle to arrive from the US) and I think it may be a fake. Lesson learned, but I love the colour so much I'll probably order a second bottle from a legit seller in future.

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Oh so swatchable - $OPI 212-Sephora

This is a polish that I swatch every single darn time I'm in Sephora! I've never quite broken down enough to buy it, but I had the opportunity to swap for it, so I went for it!

Should have bought this a long time ago....

Sephora by OPI 212-Sephora

A lovely deep complex colour. The base seems to be a blackened olive, and mixed in are varying amounts of orange flake, holo mini-glitter, and other goodies. It's quite hard to describe, and frankly, sounds like a hot mess. But on, I think it's a little mysterious....it's not quite obvious that you're wearing a crazy glitter polish. It's one where people ask "What IS that on your nails?" and grab your hand to take a closer look.

Love it.

What polish have you picked up recently that you should have bought much earlier?

kittytokaren

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Mini Blog Sale

***FIRE SALE***

• Usage is 1X mani unless otherwise noted
• First Paid First Served basis (no holding)
• Contact Piff via our contact page
• Paypal only

The pictured set is $12 (shipping included) for Continental US Buyers. I can ship internationally, but shipping will be assessed on an individual basis (price is $8 + small flat rate box shipping cost).

Left to Right:

• Sinful Nail Junkie (85%)
  
• Sinful Dream On (old version)
• Sinful Daddy's Girl
• Misa Fire Coral
• Misa Forbidden Lust
• China Glaze Devotion
• Eyeko Pastel Polish
• Eyeko Pretty Polish
• Sally Hansen Lightening (50%)
• Brucci Daniella's Curve
• CM Lunar Plains
• Sation Silver Glitter (50%)
• Essie Pink is the Link (66%)
  

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A Couple Misa Vamps

Stiletto


(2 coats)

A vampy red creme with a tiny touch of brown. Lovely formula.

Love Bite


(2 coats)

A vampy red jelly. Also lovely formula.

Both


(Stiletto top two, Love Bite bottom two)

How the hell do I decide which one I want? They are both awesome. But they are both too close to keep both. Which would you pick?? I need help. I'm leaning jelly over creme.

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Butter London Knees up & China glaze Party Hearty

I decided last year that I had to have this after seeing it on Lipglossiping. After tracking it down at Harvey Nichols and paying a small fortune (this was before the re-release) I wasn't disappointed - this is an amazing glowy metallic red. It does have a sweet wrapper quality to it, for sure. Easy application in to coats with no horrible streaks. Total perfection.

The only downside? Wear. I applied this last night, washed my hair this morning before taking pictures, and I'd already developed three chips. So, since I'm going to have to take this off soon, I decided to pop some glitter over for the hell of it. Since this is a perfect holiday colour, I paired it with China Glaze Party Hearty. Yeah, so I'm only three months late for Christmas...maybe I'll have a V-day mani for summer.

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Resort to perfection - No More Film

Today I have a lovely polish for you from Essie Resort 2012! This is one of the best polishes I've tried this year, hands down! Essie's Resort collections always have some gems, but this is just pure, smooth, sultry blurple perfection.

Essie No More Film...

When I put this on it immediately reminded me of one of my favourites - OPI Sapphire in the Snow. I wanted to compare them, but they were quite close, so to get the differences to show I had to put the swatches against black (differences in darker colours show up better on a dark background) and mess with the lighting a bit. So the above photo is really true to life, the comparison photo is merely to show you the subtle differences.

L - Essie No More Film, R - OPI Sapphire in the Snow

No More Film is slightly lighter than Sapphire in the Snow, and perhaps a smidgen more blue. In reality the differences are quite subtle, but if you found Sapphire in the Snow a touch too dark, I'm going to bet that you will love No More Film!

The formula was perfection - could have been one coat if applied well! I love a good blurple creme polish and this is one of the best I've ever tried. Love love love.

Speaking of "Film", I threw a huge Oscar party this year and it was amazing! Did you watch?

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Essie Case Study

(2 coats)

K2K generously sent me a bottle of Case Study. I was sure it was going to be an awesome nude for me since it had so much yellow in it. It ended up not meeting expectations but for those of you still interested I can attest that the formula is more than acceptable.

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The kindness of strangers: Lippmann naked

I had something else scheduled to show you for today (a 'here's one I made earlier' I took last month) but I had a lovely package arrive a couple of days ago and I wanted to show you right away.

On a post a few weeks back I mentioned a hunch that I thought a colour might be similar to Lippmann's Waking up in Vegas, a colour I had long admired from afar. A very kind reader offered to send me her bottle, since it wasn't a colour she wore. It turned out when I got the package that she sent quite a few other colours besides! So, thank you again Elaine, I can't wait to swatch them! :) MUA has made me a great believer in doing nice things for people you don't know, and this really touched me and lifted me during a slightly bleak patch last month, so it was a much appreciated gesture.

Anyway, this is the first I tried: Lippmann naked. I had a hunch from online swatches that this might be a good mannequin hands colour for me (I wear NC15 usually) and it definitely is. It reminds me a little of Mavala Liberty, which I wore for my PhD upgrade), but the Lipmmann is much easier to apply and doesn't have the eternal dry time of the Mavala.

This is three coats. As you can see it's a semi-sheer shade, so there's still a little bit of VNL. I really like this actually, I think it gives the polish more depth than if it was fully opaque. It also applies smoothly considering that this kind of formula should be rife with problems, and is nice and shiny without a topcoat. I really like it, this is definitely the kind of shade I pack for conferences, holidays and the like, because chips don't show.

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The One, the Only - Essie Starry Starry Nights

Oh yeah. This Essie lover feels satisfied now.

Essie Starry Starry Nights...

No words, just grins. :)

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OPI Speak For Your Elf

(2 coats Ruby Pumps, 3 coats SFYE)

This is not just a swatch of OPI's Speak For Your Elf (from the Ulta Holiday Exclusive last year). It's also a swatch of China Glaze's Ruby Pumps. It's such a dupe that I don't actually remember which two fingers have the China Glaze and which two have the OPI. Can you tell?

The 3 key ways in which the OPI is not worth it:
- Total dupe
- the OPI needs 3 coats versus CG's 2 coats for the same opacity
- it's more expensive and harder to get

The end.

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Truly Bloody - Essie Clutch Me If You Can

Had to get this because of Piff. Had to.

Essie Clutch Me If You Can...

A jelly blood red. Reminds me of something that Pam from True Blood might wear.

I am desperately clutching on to the remains of winter, trying to wear my fav winter polishes, but spring seems like it's approaching all too quickly. What season does it feel like where you are? Is it effecting your polish choices?

kittytokaren

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