Fingernails that shine like justice!

Hello readers of Polish or Perish!

As flinty posted the other day, I'm the new PoP blogger! Like the other lovely ladies, I am also a graduate student (aka I'm cheap slave labour). I work in a lab 24/7 using noxious chemicals, snapping things open, doing fiddly things with my hands and dousing them in alcohol. I consider myself a rigorous testing ground for polish wear! I'm really excited to be part of this and I hope you guys don't mind me sharing my nail polish choices/manis with you!

A couple (polish-related) things about me:

1.) I don't change my polish every day unless extremely inspired/disgusted by a polish. I'm more of a 4-day wear kind of person.
2.) I keep a small stash - I swap or give away polishes to friends that I am not completely in love with, so everything in my 'core collection' is near and dear to me!
3.) My dirty secrets: I generally don't like green polish (RBL Orbis Non Sufficit is the exception), and I am not really a glitter/holo/duo person.

Now that the entire polish blogger community is ready to maroon me on a dark lonely island somewhere, let's get to some polish!

I thought that the very best way for you to get to know me was by my polish. Not to sound cheesy, but colour is a huge reflection of and influence on how you act and feel. And this polish probably represents my personality better than any other in my collection. She wasn't much loved by the polish community, but she is definitely one of my favourites. In fact, I've never had a back-up of a polish and I kind of want one of this! Without further ado, I give you: Essie Plumski!

What I love about this one is that not only is it my favourite shade of Tyrian purple (my fav Dooney & Bourke handbag is this colour, as well as my cellphone) but the finish is right up my alley - it's like a creme with a bit of jelly thrown in for fun! The application is fairly decent - requires 3 coats to make me happy, but that's the price I pay for having it be a bit jelly-ish and squishy looking. I also apply very thin coats. This colour makes me feel powerful and comfortable in my own skin - it's vampy but not too sexy, dark but definitely not black, not purple, not pink, not red - just perfect.

Essie Plumski was a Fall 2008 Ulta exclusive unfortunately, and I didn't want to show just you a polish you couldn't get! (I heard someone had seen some at their Ulta, but I've been looking for another bottle and found zilch.) So here is a quick comparison of Essie Plumski with NYC Manhattan (which I received from the lovely kelsea of kelsealaurel - hi, friend!) and OPI Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not.

Index: Plumski; Middle: Manhattan; Ring: Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not; Pinkie: Plumski.

The differences/similarities might be easier to see in the bottle pic:

Most of you are probably familiar with Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not. These pics don't capture it accurately. It is very different from Plumski because of its pink shimmer, but the base colour is fairly similar in hue, but is lighter. NYC Manhattan is *almost* a dupe! It is perhaps one shade darker - but only by a smidge! Plumski is a drop redder - but only by a drop! Where they really differ is the formula. I've never tried the NYC brand before, but this polish was extremely runny and difficult to manage. It is opaque in 2 coats as opposed to 3, but you don't get the lovely bit of jelly-ness that you do with Plumski.

That being said, I'm definitely hanging onto NYC Manhattan until I find another bottle of Plumski!

Anyways thanks for reading. Future posts will not be this lengthy - don't worry! If you have any questions about me or my polish, please leave a comment!

<3

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