Lab Muffin's Top 13 Polishes of 2013 Part 1: Mainstream and Boutique Brands

2013 was a big year of swatching for me, and it was the year where I think Australian indie polishes really blossomed. It was very difficult to pick just 13 polishes that I loved, but I certainly tried! I limited myself to one polish per brand only, and to polishes that I discovered in 2013 (though they weren't necessarily released last year). Here we go, with the mainstream and boutique (i.e. small company but not hand-mixed) picks...

First, I obviously have to mention my collaboration shade, piCture pOlish Ultra Violence. The literary amongst you will know that the name is inspired by Anthony Burgess's book A Clockwork Orange. I love the holo iridescent glitter against the rich purple! I've included a bottle of Ultra Violence in my 2nd blogiversary giveaway here.

I blogged about the stunningly pretty Pretty Serious BSOD here earlier. What happened next was that while wearing it, my laptop did actually have a heart-stopping BSOD moment, in the middle of thesis-writing! Luckily I didn't lose anything, but Kaz was too sweet, and in her usual above-and-beyond customer service style, she sent me a few polishes to dull the pain.

OPI Keeping Suzi At Bay is a gorgeous blue creme that is both interesting and elegant. It may be my favourite creme shade ever. I think dark blue is actually quite work safe, but definitely not boring.

ulta3 Triple Threat was a big surprise for me. This is a complex holo glitter jelly that's indie-worthy, but comes at the ridiculously budget-friendly price of $2.

Orly Digital Glitter is one of my top 5 Orly polishes, ever. I usually think of Orly as a brand which does salon-friendly classic polishes well, but whenever they come out with something a bit different it's usually ridiculously cool (Fowl Play! Space Cadet!). I love the unlikely brown/purple/red combination - it's a bit steampunk in my opinion, and makes me think of Neal Stephenson novels. To top it off, the purple shimmer is duochrome.

I will be back soon with some of my indie picks of 2013 - hold onto your wallets!

OPI Polka.com black jelly sandwich

I recently scored Camouflage Colour Black in a Lust Have It! sample box - at first I was disappointed, since it's just a plain black, but then I swatched it and discovered that it was extremely sheer. Hurray! Jelly sandwich!

I started with a couple of layers of Black, then dabbed OPI Polka.com, a pink/blue/purple glitter (see my original swatches of it here), and finished with an extra layer of Black.

The result reminded me of some of the indies in jelly bases floating around - I'm in love! It's made me want to collect jellies in all the colours (so 2012, I know).

Ciate Power Dressing

Ciate Power Dressing

This color was a bit of a surprise. I applied it inside one evening very low-light conditions and thought it was going to be this lovely dark eggplant-y purple. Then I go outside the next day and realize that it's a rather blue blue. I also realized that four coats wasn't enough to make it opaque. I don't know how many times I have to make this judgment error before I learn to turn on the light when I apply nail polish. Probably before some important job interview when I've accidentally applied a neon yellow thinking it's some mauve color. :P

Christmas manicures (with added whinging)

I've been super busy (writing thesis, other blog stuff) that I've been bad and left poor minnie to do all the work here! So I'm going to try to make up for it by swamping you all with Christmas cheer.

Here are some ridiculous manicures I did, in between being a general Grinch and trying to get thesis writing supplies (instant coffee and chocolate) and beauty essentials (nail polish, fifty shades of blush) at the shopping centre where everyone walks so. damn. slowly.

Four Santas to ring bells in your face and smoke outside while in their costumes, making your brain explode as you try to explain to your toddler why Santa wants cancer!

One overpriced Christmas tree that smells better burning than sitting in your house, shedding endlessly!

Showers of glitter that stay in your hair, then one night when you think it's all gone you wake up with a flake in your eye!

Woohoo Christmas! (In the background is an NMR spectrum, which is the kind of thing I've been staring at all day - you know how on CSI TV shows they shove a sample into a machine and it tells them what chemicals are in it? Doesn't work like that in real life! Instead you have poor people like me staring at graphs, trying to work out whether the number of neighbouring hydrogens makes sense, and eyeballing integrals to try to work out if it's close enough to a round number to get away with. Yeah, science!)

*grinches away*

Revlon Sparkle Aplenty

Revlon Sparkle Aplenty

The heck kind of name is "Sparkle Aplenty"? This is also another polish that I've bought during my attempted no-buy. I was waiting for a flu shot in a pharmacy and was right in my line of sight. I had to go home with something besides a sore arm. (I also bought some Good Humor popsicles.) Anyway... the polish. I found this combination of silver hex glitter suspended in black jelly kind of dull. It lacks the panache of the Lippmann glitters, which use similar combinations. The great thing about the polish is that even though it's jelly, it's pretty good to go after two coats; the above is three because I wanted more glitter. :)

CND Sapphire Sparkle over OPI Y'All Come Back Now Ya Hear?

CND Sapphire Sparkle over OPI Y'All Come Back Now Ya Hear? 

I'm super lazy of late so I generally apply a creme, jelly or a very, very subtle shimmer, wear that for a few days, and then layer something on top of that and wear it for a few more days. CND Sapphire Sparkle was maybe not the most intuitive choice to put over Y'All Come Back but I rather liked the combination. It didn't really show off how pretty Sapphire Sparkle could be (as when put over a dark polish) but it gave the orange a slightly unusual look. This was applied on day four of Y'All Come Back and I think I wore this particular combination without chippage for another few days after that.

OPI Y'All Come Back Now Ya Hear?

Where on earth did summer go? This has been sort of one hell of a year so far, and I think I'll leave it at that and post a pic of polish. :)

OPI Y'All Come Back Now Ya Hear?

That is one long nail polish name. I actually loved the look of this polish: squishy orange jelly! This was a gift from my ex's mother... that she gave to me, umm, years ago and I just got around to wearing it. Application was four coats, as expected for a jelly. But it applied really smoothly, so it was a very easy-going and quick four coats. Unfortunately, I had really noticeable shrinking at the tips almost immediately (with Gelous and Poshe) and the tipwear became noticeable very quickly. This was taken on the second day of wear, but I wore this for a good four days without issue.

Ciate Paparazzi

Ciate Paparazzi is one of the English polishes ilexica sent me. It's a vampy the exact red-brown colour of blood, somewhere between a creme and a jelly. Perfect in 3 coats, very shiny finish. This is with Seche Vite on top:

I really wasn't expecting to like this one so much - in the bottle it looks murky and boring, but on the nail it's clearly dark red and not black. One of my pet hates is when a dark polish needs so many coats to destreak that it just looks black on the nail... what was the point of that?? Huh??

This really does look the colour of a blood bag. The only real complaint I have is that if you get it on the cuticle and don't clean up properly, it makes your nails look inflamed. My left hand looks ok, but... my poor, poor right hand. >.<

I really love the Ciate bottles - it's the perfect shape and size to grip between my knees, which is my preferred polishing position! Sitting on ground in front of my computer (which is on a coffee table), knees up, bottle between knees, fingers on knee. Which brings me to something I've always been curious about - how do you polish? Where do you place your hands and polish bottle?

Essie Fall 2012 - Stylenomics

As I do with almost every Essie collection, I've been anxiously anticipating the release of their Fall 2012 offering - Stylenomics! In the end, I've picked up all but one. SPOILER ALERT! I'm really disappointed. Not that the formulas aren't great - they are. And not that the colours aren't lovely - they're beautiful. This is just something that we've seen before, and we've seen it from Essie. A few times.

If you're looking to fill some gaps in your collection, this is a great place to do it. As I said before, the formulas were fantastic all around! However, if you're like me and the vampy and taupe sections of your collection are going strong, I'm going to do some comps below with mostly other Essie polishes - maybe my regret will save you some time/money/trouble!

Let's begin!

Skirting the Issue. Gorgeousssssss! Dark red/berry jelly. Yes, a jelly. And the application is truly wonderful. If you have Essie Clutch Me If You Can already though, you might want to skip this one. They are very close. Skirting the Issue is a bit lighter and *ever-so-slightly* more ruby red than CMIYC, which has a touch more berry. In reality they are more difficult to distinguish from one another - I had to hold them up to a blazing light to really see it. The photograph really accentuates the differences! (Odd, as it's usually it's the other way around...) Essie Bordeaux is lighter and warmer than Skirting the Issue.

L-R: Essie Bordeaux, Essie Skirting the Issue, Essie Clutch Me If You Can

Miss Fancy Pants. Again, very pretty and right up my alley. This one reminds me of OPI Berlin There, Done That from THEIR Fall collection, but I don't have it (yet) for comparison purposes. It is warmer than Essie Chinchilly, and quite a bit lighter than Essie Merino Cool. The comp pics are below with Don't Sweater It, as I put a taupe line-up together!

Don't Sweater It. Another pretty taupe, this time darker! This one has a similar level of darkness in comparison to Essie Merino Cool, but has more of a mauve undertone instead of purple. You can see it next to Essie Mink Muffs, which is much more brown. I find this one to be really flattering on the hands! If you haven't found your *perfect* shade of taupe yet, give this one a shot.

L-R: Essie Mink Muffs, Essie Don't Sweater It, Essie Merino Cool, Essie Miss Fancy Pants, Essie Chinchilly

Stylenomics. The polish the line was named for! A dark almost-black green. (NB: Things tend to look quite dark on me since I am so fair.) It's not a true green-green, but has a dose of blue in it that reminds me of an evergreen tree. Definitely bluer than OPI Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow. HTAT is a jelly and Stylenomics is a very opaque creme. Comparing the two isn't easy, as they are both very dark. Sadly, much darker than I was hoping. Again, it reminds me of an OPI Germany polish - Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine. I don't have that one either (yet), but I might pick it up since it seems like it might be a lighter version of this that won't read as *black* in most lights. Maybe?

L-R: OPI Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow, Essie Stylenomics

Recessionista. And finally a quick one - I picked this up last minute and don't have a mani picture of it, but I didn't want to keep you guys waiting! In terms of what I have in my collection, this falls somewhere between Essie Sole Mate - which is darker and a jelly, whereas this is a creme - and Essie Plumski - a long-gone LE colour. It's *very* closer to Plumski, which has a tinge more red. If you missed out on that one, I'd pick this up! It's a lovely plum.

L-R: Essie Plumski, Essie Recessionista, Essie Sole Mate

The only colour I didn't grab was Head Mistress - it's a red and I am pretty happy with my collection of reds right now. It does look fab in other people's online swatches...hmm...

Again, lovely collection, but really unimaginative from Essie. I'm pretty bummed. I'm even more bummed that I bought so many of them. If I could do it all over again, I would just pick up the two taupes (I clearly have a taupe problem...but these are so flattering!) and perhaps Skirting the Issue because I like the formula better than Clutch Me If You Can's.

Will you be picking up any of these? Please let me know your latest polish regret so I don't feel so alone!

kittytokaren

Subtle Jelly Sandwich with OPI My Pointe Exactly

Today I felt like something sheer with a little sparkle that wasn't the stereotypical pink, and this is what I came up with! OPI My Pointe Exactly, the most fantastic sheer grey - interesting, unique, but reserved - sandwiched around one coat of Essie Golden Nuggets, a very fine gold glitter in a clear base.

I love the way this catches the light and the contrast between the cool grey jelly and the warm gold glitter! Soft and delicate, but still special.

What do you put on your jelly sandwich?

kittytokaren

layers abound! purple jelly sandwich

I always love the look of jelly sandwiches :) there's a pretty depth to them that you can't get with regular polish!

This pretty layering combo is:

Sally Hansen: Purple Pizzazz (2 coats) +
OPI: Servin’ Up Sparkle +
China Glaze Snow Globe +
Sally Hansen: Purple Pizzazz (1 coat) +
Clarins 230

I took all these pictures and then realized I was just capturing the beauty of Clarins 230, but you can see the layers beneath, too :)

Max Factor Fantasy Fire

Ahh, the multichrome glory of Fantasy Fire! I've had this one sitting in my collection for a while now, just waiting to be tried, but I couldn't find good underwear for it. Luckily as I was browsing through Gloss the other day, BYS Matte Royal Blue caught my eye. It's a very bold, inky blue - a girl I work with grabbed my hands mid-conversation to marvel at how blue they were! It dries matte, but not very matte, like anodised aluminium.

3 coats of Matte Royal Blue, 1 coat of Fantasy Fire and Insta-Dri anti-chip topcoat:

So nommy! I love that it's not super super sparkly, like Orly Space Cadet, but it's still gorgeous and eyecatching. I kept this one on for a week with just a bit of tipwear, and I was NOT gentle on my fingers - Insta-Dri anti-chip topcoat is amazing, period.

Here's a different angle, where you can see the green:

I took heaps of pictures but unfortunately most of them turned out blurry. But that just gives me an excuse to put it on again, right? :D

A jelly sandwich

It's been raining endlessly in the UK. I've scheduled this in advance since I'll be away for a fortnight in July toasting myself in Spain, from which I'll likely return with ravaged nails and freckles so I am trying to schedule as many posts as I can for that time.

Still, imagine this as being weather appropriate to drizzly England, not sunny Spain. This is Illamasqua raindrops sandwiched between OPI Last Friday Night which I got in a swap on MUA and am a little bit obsessed with. It is super sheer so I'm thinking of layering it over one of my other blues, maybe Illamasqua Caress or CG Frostbite. It would look amazing over a blue jelly, but I don't think I have any.

THEME WEEK - My Favourite Red

I love red! It's probably the colour that looks best on me in clothing, so it was hard to pick just one red, but I managed.

This is ulta3 English Rose. ulta3 is a great little Australian drugstore brand of polishes that have (generally) excellent formulas and are incredibly cheap - $2 a polish.

It's a lovely red jelly full of gold microglitter. 3 smooth coats, delicious! Here it is in the sun:

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

Deborah Lippmann Forget You and Candy Shop (Get This Party Started, Fall 2011)

I don't understand at all why my SO didn't like these polishes. He's loved most of the other Lippmann chunky glitters I've worn. (He's even worn a couple himself!)

Deborah Lippmann Forget You

Basically, Lippmann Happy Birthday in black jelly. The above is three coats. And man, did it shrink a lot and fast. :( It's awesome because it's a version of Happy Birthday but on the whole, not super interesting. 

Deborah Lippmann Candy Shop

I always want to write this as "Candy Shoppe" (as in "Ye Olde"). I don't know why. This one I loved for some odd reason: me and pinks don't get along. I think I would've liked the barbie pink base just a little bit more jelly but as it is, the bright Happy Birthday glitter gets shifted down just a tiny notch, which gives the glitter a bit of a matte appearance. Three coats. Shrinkage city. 

An actual NOTD that I am wearing right now: Orly Fowl Play

Just put this on about an hour ago. I know it's a dupe of OPI Merry Midnight (which I have as well) but I still like it.

Orly Fowl Play

Plummy purple jelly with copper flakies, blue microglitter and subtle silver shimmer. It actually is good to go with two coats but the above shows three. 

Closeup of Fowl Play

A ton of students have come down with pneumonia and my own bout of flu is still killing me after 20 days. I'm constantly dizzy and coughing uncontrollably. Two days ago, health services gave me a corticosteroid nasal spray, an inhaler and some over-the-counter motion sickness pills (an anti-emetic). Took doses of all three. Then six hours later, I took a second anti-emetic pill and I start having an allergic reaction. I went to the emergency room when my throat started to constrict. I suspected it wasn't anything major but it was my first medication allergy, so I figured better safe than sorry, right?  

Over the next three hours, I spoke to seven different people (one receptionist, one triage nurse, one billing department person, three different nurses, and one physician's assistant). It took 2.5 hours for a nurse to get me Benadryl. Ten minutes later, the PA came in and told me to discontinue the anti-emetic AND the corticosteroids, even though 1. I've been treated with corticosteroids before and haven't had an allergic reaction and 2. when people come into the ER with allergic reactions to things, they are often treated with a corticosteroid. He gave me a prescription for a cough suppressant syrup, so I could at least sleep. Five minutes later, a second nurse came in and told me that I should discontinue the anti-emetic but to keep taking the corticosteroids. My SO -- who was seriously agitated by the inefficiency of the ER -- pointed out that her advice contradicted the PA's advice. "Haha, oh, oops. Yeah, discontinue the steroids." 

Then a billing department person charged me $100 for the visit. 

The next day, I found out that the prescribed cough syrup had been discontinued years ago. Brilliant! So, I paid $100 for two Benadryl and for seven people to talk to me for a total of maybe fifteen minutes in the course of three hours. Fun, huh?

Nails Inc The Wyndham Collection

There are some swatches I wish I could have done better... but I didn't sufficiently like the polish(es) enough to redo them. So I'm just going to post these and pretend like they never happened, OK?

Nails Inc The Wyndham Collection

Teal Black Kensington

The Wyndham topcoat over Teal Black Kensington

I loved The Donmar Collection but The Wyndham Collection pair was a huge disappointment. First of all, the Teal Black Kensington was just sad: it's a dark teal jelly but it does not apply evenly and needs at least three coats to be opaque (which is not desirable for a polish that you want to use as a base layer). Then The Wyndham, though a flakie, is kind of a plain flakie: it goes between dark green and lighter green and that's it. And it takes at least two coats to get any significant amount of flakies onto the nail. So at the end of it, if you want the nicest application, you need six coats of polish. (And that's not including basecoat and topcoat.) Not at all a fan of this duo.

I'm trying to decide if I want to buy any of the OPI Muppets collection. I'm kind of intrigued by Designer the Better and Warm and Fozzie. I kind of want Rainbow Connection, because I love the billions of Happy Birthday-clones. And I'm on the fence on Meep Meep Meep. It's possible I may only want it for its name. Though I have no desire for Wocka Wocka. 

OPI Red Shatter over OPI Rally Pretty Pink (Serena Williams collex)

OPI Red Shatter over OPI Rally Pretty Pink

I have been so pleasantly surprised by the gorgeousness of the Serena Williams collection -- I think I may have almost all of them -- but Red Shatter was a disappointment. First of all, Rally Pretty Pink is, as the name suggests, really damn pretty. And Red Shatter kind of is a dull jelly... which just makes the manicure look lifeless. :( I wouldn't hesitate to try out Red Shatter on, say, a white creme but it seems a waste to use it on an interesting shimmery polish.

Anna Sui 504

Anna Sui 504

I really wanted to love this polish. I hadn't seen anything else like it: dark auburn jelly with a lot of gold glitter and green iridescent flakies. I mean, what a combination: it's so unusual! Well, I loved the color, I love the gold glitter, the brownish jelly, the typical candy-floral Anna Sui scent (and the cute rose-shaped bottle)... but the flakies were less than fab. Stiffest. flakies. ever. The small flakies were okay but the large pieces didn't spread very well and stuck up in weird angles on my nails. I kept on piling on the layers (I think the above shows four or five?), trying to get more flakies but to no avail.