Sidling into Spring - Essie Stones & Roses

Although it's a balmy 75F here in North Carolina today, I'm not *completely* ready for spring yet. I think my years in Chicago taught me to be wary of sunshine in February. Though I might not be wholly in the right mindset yet, this colour was too beautiful not to share! This is Essie Stones & Roses from the Resort 2015 Collection.

Essie usually knocks it out of the park with their resort collections, and I think this one is no exception. Although this was the only shade I picked up for the moment, I adore the colour story this collection tells. Stones & Roses is not quite pastel, not quite bright and not quite neon. This makes it supremely wearable, but so cheerful. You can bet I'll be wearing this on my nails frequently come spring and into summer.

A little comparison with some Essie classics:

L-R: Essie Cantaloupe, Essie Stones & Roses, Essie Carousel Coral

Cantaloupe is decidedly more orange than Stones & Roses, but around the same shade level, whereas Carousel Coral has a similar pinkness, but is deeper.

Stones & Roses may not be the most unique colour in the world, but it is a wonderfully balanced addition to my collection. I think it flatters my skin tone as well. (Which is approximately NC15 for those of you who speak MAC!) Have you picked up any of the Essie Resort 2015 polishes? Let me know if you have - I could be tempted to get another! I hope you are all having a fabulous weekend.

k2k

OCC: Grandma + Gloss 'n Sparkle: Quote Unquote

Coral is always excellent, not just for summer. It just happened to be summer when I wore this manicure combination, as I'm not one to follow convention on what colors are appropriate for which season anyway :)

I received OCC: Grandma as a gift and I loved it at first sight. I've always wanted OCC polishes but never managed to pull the trigger on them, although I do have a few of their lip tars! Which I love. But I digress.

I saw Gloss 'n Sparkle on sale at Llarowe and I loved the the color scheme. So I got it (I frequently check the sale/clearance section of Llarowe to see if there are any good deals to be had).

Onto pictures!

It's hard to capture the color of Grandma but the formula was great. Quote Unquote was also one of the easiest glitter polishes I've worked with recently. 2 coats, didn't even have to dab or manually place glitters.

Information: Gloss 'n Sparkle Website // Facebook

Rainbow gradient

I love gradients - they're easy and impressive, even if clean-up (and the resulting angry dry skin) is a bit of a pain. Here's one I did recently using some Bio Sculpture polishes, which I wore to a meetup with some Sydney nail fanatics:

And here's what it looks like after I covered it with permanent marker, using PVA to stop the marker from streaking (see the tutorial I did here)

I wish I'd thought of it sooner! I'm also quite surprised by how much darker it looks after the markering - I mean, it should be pretty damn obvious since I'm covering 60% of the nail in black, but the contrast between the original and the final is pretty striking to me. Silly irrational human brain!

(You may have noticed that I used the same colours as I did for this gradient Movember mani, because I am clearly somewhat lacking in imagination and if the colours are from the same collection, that's my gradient choices done. But seriously, that Bio Sculpture collection has the prettiest matching gelato colours. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

Scofflaw Nail Varnish: David Bowie's Bulge

Hello!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been very absent -- I think finals burned me out from doing anything other than veg. I was only doing a manicure once a week -- when I'd usually do them two or three times a week. And even then, I rarely moisturized (good thing it's not winter) so my cuticles were in a sad state.

But I'm back! Sad news, I did not get into the MBA program I applied to but I think it's for the best in terms of my interests and background experience. So I'll be entering my third year of law school -- actually, I'm already in it as I started summer classes last week. One year left! How... scary.

Onto today's swatch, it's from Scofflaw Nail Varnish. Interesting name, David Bowie's Bulge, eh?

It's a deep coral polish with subtle shimmer, accented with matte and holographic teal glitters of various sizes and also features small dark red glitters and a bronze microglitter. I REALLY loved the bronze microglitter aspect of it, it added some nice sparkle. I think it took me only 2 coats to get this result, and the glitter came out beautifully. Perfect summer color!

Their information: Facebook // Etsy // Llarowe

Pink and monochrome glitter gradient

This is a gradient that I recently did to get the neon out of my system before autumn set in here in Australia. I do a lot of metallic glitter gradients, but I've never done one with black and white - I really like the result! (I posted a tutorial a little while ago on my blog, on how to achieve this effect with a cotton bud, without too much of the clear glitter base making the tip of the mani fat.)

The black and white glitter is Peita's Polish Zebration. Coral is my favourite neon shade - I recently swatched my collection and found 12 very similar coral cremes, out of just under 500 in the total collection, which I think is a bit ridiculous! I used Face of Australia Show Off here, and it's possibly the most neon out of the corals (not as neon as some of my neon pinks though).

I always find corals really difficult to photograph, so this isn't entirely colour-accurate. But the formula of this was great, lovely and smooth. I love a good creme formula!

Neon Hot! Essie Camera

In honour of how crazy hot it's been here in the South lately (and tons of other places), I thought I'd show you a neon. This colour captures very well the feeling I get when I walk out of my door and slam into a wall of blazing hot humidity.

Essie Camera (over OPI Alpine Snow)...

This is the only colour I picked up from the Essie Poppy Razzi (ughhhh what a name) collection. I don't wear neons on my fingers very often, but I ADORE colours like this on my toes in summer!

Do you wear neons? Tell me your favourites!

kittytokaren

THEME WEEK - My Favourite Neon

Ok, so I have a massive thing for corals. Yeah. Bright pink, fluoro barbie hues. It's a bit embarrassing, but hey, it's not the worst skeleton to have in one's closet, right?

I've somehow collected a palette of neon corals, so instead of just swatching one coral creme, I'd swatch a bunch which had "coral" in the name and try to justify why I need (yes, NEED) them all.

L to R:

Kim Nail Polish Miami Coral - This was the first of my corals, so it was obviously justified. I bought it from Cotton On while waiting in the queue, so it was a snap decision. It's a bit too pink though, and dries really slow, and smells like industrial paint.

ulta3 Sunset Coral - I bought this as a less stinky, quicker drying alternative, so obviously justified. This applies beautifully and was $2.50.

Hello Kitty Kawai Coral - I won this in a giveaway so it was basically forced upon me. You can't refuse free nail polish, especially in your favourite summer shade and from a brand you haven't tried yet. Justified.

Max Factor Diva Coral - Bought this in a sale for $0.50. Name brand polish for under $1 is always justified. Sample-sized bottles are always justified. DOUBLE WHAMMY JUSTIFIED.

Forefinger to pinky: Miami, Sunset, Kawai, Diva. For some reason, in the sun they actually all look different, and I think this could almost pass as an ombre mani. But in the shade, it's just a bit embarrassing how similar they all are.

OK, if you held a gun to my head and made me choose one, I'd probably go for ulta3 Sunset Coral (middle finger) - it's neon enough to be strictly summery, but orange enough to not be completely girly. But since that's never going to happen, they're ALL MINE. FOREVER. Yes. Ha. I win! The, uh, coral-collecting race. Yes. :\

Summer bubbly - Chanel Orange Fizz

Another polish I've been lusting after forever! I used my Nordstrom gift card again for this one! (Seriously, I love gift cards.)

The legendary Chanel Orange Fizz...

This puts me in the mood for fizzy drinks poolside in the summer! More pink on me than I expected (probably due to my skin tone), but I can legitimately say that this is one of the more perfect corals I own. Love. Love. Love.

Have you treated yourself lately?

kittytokaren

Illamasqua Lament

I wore this last summer (and took a crappy iNOTD picture of it) but I have completely changed my mind after my initial, not-so-positive reaction. Initially I was a bit taken aback by the fact that it's more pink than coral. However, I popped it on my toes and ended up loving it so much that I left it on for six weeks before finally acknowledging that its time had come. It really is the perfect pedicure colour.

Anyway, I think my initial reactions were off in another respect. I described this as 'watermelon'. I have since decided that the exact pantone is in fact 'Dr Zoidberg'. It has that kind of creamy, lobster-y undertone but it's quite neon for an almost-pastel. I'm not very good at describing colours.

Coming up tomorrow is some more Illamasqua, including a rather exciting trip to the flagship store!

A bit of a valentine - Chanel Distraction

I wasn't expecting to own this polish, but through a series of odd circumstances, I now do.

And I really, really like it! (I now consider it a Valentine's Day present to myself.)

Chanel Distraction...

Part of the aptly-timed and holiday-appropriate Rose Ultimes de Chanel, this is a gorgeous coral polish with fuchsia shimmer. I tried to use a bit of flash to show the shimmer, but I didn't do the best job. I also feel like it looks more pink in the photo - it leans more coral in reality - but the truth is that the colour changes dramatically in different lights.

I adore coral polishes, and with the added shimmer this one seems to have something a little extra going on. The closest polish I have to the base colour is Essie Carousel Coral (see a pic of that next to some other corals here). Here are some swatches to compare:

L-R: Essie Carousel Coral, Chanel Distraction, OPI My Chihuahua Bites

Whether you celebrate Valentine's Day or not, I hope each and every one of you gets the chance to do something nice for yourself this month!

kittytokaren

OPI A Color to Diner For & I Eat Mainely Lobster (Touring America, Fall 2011)

Two colors that I'm not really fond of wearing but I liked them well enough.

OPI I Eat Mainely Lobster

Bright coral with gold shimmer, with a nice glossy sheen. Three coats... and then there was some strangely unbalanced shrinkage. Chipped in a few days, alas.

 OPI A Color to Diner For

The far shot doesn't show off this slightly jelly cherry polish that has a very noticeable gold and purple shimmer. Two coats, a little dull. More shrinkage. 

Closeup of A Color to Diner For

Speaking of OPI, I heard a sorta cute story earlier in the quarter. After a lab meeting, I asked one of my RAs if her mani was Funky Dunkey (it wasn't but she chose it because it looked like Funky Dunkey). We started talking OPI and limited edition collections when another one of my RAs mentioned that he bought an entire OPI LE collection for his girlfriend a couple of months back. I figured it would be one of the recent collections and I asked which one. Alice in Wonderland! True, it's not super HTF but the AiW glitters are pretty HTF for a recent collex. He said it took him a LONG time to hunt down all the polishes down separately (since he couldn't find it being sold as a set anymore... not for retail anyway). I was impressed. That strikes me as very sweet, to go through that trouble for a gift. He was pretty evasive about where he finally found all of them, so my guess is that he eventually paid through the nose on eBay.

(No, he didn't come up with the idea himself. His girlfriend showed him photos of the polishes. Which makes me suspect that she is one of the people who snaps up all the good stuff at our local Walgreens before I can get there. $10 says she has at least a couple of the WnW Ice Baby glitters.)

It always makes me slightly worried when I post identifying information about myself on the blog. It's pretty incautious, I guess. If the girlfriend of my RA is reading this blog... well, hello! Your boyfriend is a great RA.

My lame nail art.

For some reason, I had the urge to engage in some nail art recently. Little nail art. Nail art is usually way, way, way out of my comfort zone, but I felt a burst of creativity! My mani at the time was Essie Geranium (which is actually much more orange-toned that this pic would suggest). I added three little dots of Essie Turquoise & Caicos on each thumb using a bobby pin.

Essie Geranium + Turquoise & Caicos

I thought the result was fairly cute and went well with my turquoise jewelry!

And yes, I took this picture in my car...I wasn't going to share it at first but then I felt like snapping a pic at the wheel. However, I was parked in a parking lot! Don't ogle your nails and drive ladies!

Please don't judge too harshly - nail art is not my thing! Have you tried any nail art lately?

kittytokaren

My Top 5 Summer Pedicures (2011 edition)

I started a tradition last year of sharing with you my favourite pedicure colours of the summer...without showing you my feet of course! (See Piff's picks from last summer here as well!) In observation of this tradition, here are the top 5 pedicure colours that I've been loving and wearing this summer!

Thumb to pinky:

OPI Gift of Gold

Last winter, I almost always had a gold glitter pedi on my feet. Something about taking my socks and boots over and seeing gold glimmering back at me made me happy. I decided to try it out in summer and well, and my fav gold glitter for the warmer months has been Gift of Gold - for two major reasons. (1) It has fine, fine glitter, which I think looks really great and makes for easier removal, and (2) the tone of the overall polish is much warmer than the other golds I own, which I find very summery.

OPI Cajun Shrimp

A classic OPI, sent to me by the very sweet and amazing ilexica! This is just a punch of colour for the toes that I can't get enough of...and it seems to go with everything.

OPI Done Out in Deco

Before I broke up with RBL, Purple Haze was one of my favourite pedi colours. While DOiD is definitely not a Purple Haze dupe, the idea remains the same. A pastel-ish, but saturated purple on the toes looks great with metallic sandals, but remains feminine and summery without being in-your-face. I might like this better on toes than on tips!

Essie Watermelon

Exactly the colour you think of when you think of watermelon. Such a fun summer colour for tips or toes! It's a perfect hot pink that leans red instead of blue (like Bachelorette Bash), and it's just...cute!

Essie Midnight Cami

One of my all-time favourite pedi shades, and it is actually my current pedicure. Yes, dark is maybe not the way many ladies want to go in summer, but I think it's a really elegant counterpoint to the lighter fabrics and colours women are wearing. It seems to coordinate well with many other polish colours for tips, and the shine is amazing. I adore this.

What are your fav pedi shades for this summer?

kittytokaren

More Bright! - OPI Cajun Shrimp

I think that this might be a Polish or Perish favorite! My bottle of OPI Cajun Shrimp was sent to me by the fabulous ilexica, who already had a bottle herself. It is also one of Piff's summer faves. And now, it has a permanent place in my stash!

It's not coming out as shocking in the picture as it is on me in person, but it is a hot-hot-hot pinky coral!

While I prefer Essie Geranium on my tips, I think that this will be a favourite pedicure shade of mine this summer! In fact, I think I'll put it on tonight...

Is there a shade that is universally loved among your friends?

kittytokaren

Illamasqua Purity

I checked out the Toxic Nature collection and really wasn't that wowed. However, Illamasqua had a 20% off sale, and there is nothing like a sale to persuade me I want something. I do like the fact that Illamasqua hold such regular customer sales, plus the 10% off I always get for being a repeat customer. Thumbs up there.

So here is Illamasqua Purity. A fairly standard, pretty, pale peach. The finish is very creamy and the colour is very pretty and fresh and definitely name-appropriate. However, I had issues with application and wear. It is very thick but also a little streaky, so even after two thick coats the coverage was a little sparse in places. (And with this polish, thick coats is all you're gettin', because it's so gloopy). I had major chips by day two, which is very unusual with an Illamasqua polish. I like the colour, but the formula? Not so much.

Any Illamasquas you're keen to see? I have quite a few of them. Also: a hoarding problem. But we won't go there.

Cute Cute Cute! - Essie Chubby Cheeks

Hehe I always giggle when I say the name of this polish! It is so cute! (Kawaiiiiiii!!!) I'm not sure what exactly this coral colour has to do with Chubby Cheeks, but the colour is pretty cute as well!

To add to the cuteness, the colour is really close to the packaging of my eos lip balm in Summerfruit - my favourite flavour of all the eos balms.

Check it out...

The formula on this was great - I believe this is two coats? And I had minimal clean-up to do.

I'm really itching to start wearing my spring/summer colours. I wore this when it was really dreary out to perk myself up, but it seemed a little out of place. I got lots of compliments though!

Have you started wearing spring/summer colours yet?

kittytokaren

Oranje Boven!!: Essie Cantaloupe

The little tiny country I call home - The Netherlands - is in the World Cup final!!! I don't know how many of you are following the soccer, but this is a very big deal to me and to everyone back home! I felt like I had to wear something in the orange family to commemorate this and to wish them luck for the match against Spain on Sunday!

I've been lusting after Essie Cantaloupe for a while, tried to swap in vain, and finally pulled the eBay trigger. So glad I did! I've never liked cantaloupe the fruit - I call it 'the icky orange melon' - but I am loving Cantaloupe the polish!

I never thought anything so orange could look this decent on me! I feel like this should be a part of my "Quest for Coral", but what it really is is a soft melon - it is a little bit muted, but bright and punchy enough to stay out of Grandma territory. It's a juicy summer colour and definitely has that zest I've been craving recently. Plus, I got more than a few compliments on it! (Hi Eleanor, if you're reading this!)

I think I've changed my mind on this 'icky orange melon' - it's quite delicious!

Are you supporting your team with a mani right now? Are you cheering for Holland (Yay!) or Spain (Boo!)?

kittytokaren

P.S. Hup Holland Hup!

Two Dior NOTDs: Sweet Orange and Lemon Balm

Dior polishes are my weakness. I try to get them cheaper but if I can't, I'm perfectly willing to shell out the $20+ for them.

Dior Lemon Balm

This one was just INCREDIBLE luck. I couldn't find it ANYWHERE and then all of a sudden, it shows up on eBay for less than $20 shipped. The first thing I think is that it must be a scam, it's too good a deal but just in case it wasn't... I ordered it. It came and it looks like the real deal! And even if it isn't, it's a great polish. I couldn't capture the subtle multichromicity (not a word) of this polish. In some lights, it looks like a dusty brown infused with bronze shimmer. In other lights, it's a dusty dark purple with gold shimmer. It's a very elegant polish and applies with characteristic ease: thick, pigmented polish that's very easy to control. Two coats.

Dior Sweet Orange

Another eBay deal. I think this was $15? This one was a bit more of a pain to apply. See the dent in the polish? That's because it took longer to dry than expected. I'm very spoiled when it comes to Dior polishes so I was surprised when it hadn't dried by the time I finish applying topcoat. Also, I find some of the lighter Dior colors tend to be a bit on the sheer side. This was four coats, possibly five. I don't like many corals on me but this one I really enjoyed.

My Quest for Coral: Part 2

Alright ladies, here we go! Three corals that I think are the best I've found so far!

OPI Chapel of Love (black label) Revisited:

I've gone back-and-forth on this polish so many times it's hard to count. I've gotten it, swapped it away, swapped again to get it back, etc. This is the last time and I'm keeping it!! (But I'm still undecided about how it looks on my tips! Toes - excellent.) What makes this polish so beautiful is the fine gold shimmer in it - it really warms the colour up and causes it to look quite pink in some lights - almost bubblegum - then very coral in others. The formula on this was...not ideal. If you look closely, you can see that I still have VNL - after 3 coats! Not really liking that aspect.

Essie Carousel Coral:

I really like this one - it's more intense than Chapel of Love, but I think I might still be able to pull it off. I really like that its a creme and doesn't have shimmer - coverage was also really great! I think this might be my favourite one on me...which surprises me. I want to do a full mani with this!

Zoya Cassi:

This is lighter and more subdued than Chapel of Love, with a slightly more orange tint. It also has champagne shimmer instead of gold, which softens the polish and gives it more of a cool cast - which is probably more flattering for my skin. I think this is a winner.

Conclusions? I like all three of these, but I'm still not that comfortable wearing corals! Maybe I'm not a 'coral person'? I typically don't wear such bright colours... I've learned along the way that pink-toned corals suit my skin better than orange or red-toned corals, so I feel like all of these three flatter my skin tone pretty decently. I don't know what my problem is...I need the input and critical eye of the PoP readers to help me out here!

What do you think? Are any of these 'my' coral??

kittytokaren

Essie Carousel Coral

This NOTD is for Kittytokaren since she is on her hunt for the perfect coral! I'm not a huge fan of corals, I only maybe have two or three out of the 300 polishes I own. Carousel Coral was actually the first coral I ever bought and ever since then I just didn't see the need for me to own a lot of corals. Sometimes corals can be too pink, or too orange, and in Kittytokaren's case, too bright for her! Carousel coral definitely made my hands look tanner, and it was hard for me to capture on my camera especially without sunlight! It's actually a tad brighter in real life, but not too bright that it hurts your eyes.

Honestly, I almost never wear this.. corals just aren't for me. And on top of that, neither is Essie. I know people love Essies, but for me I can't get them to apply well. Essie is the only brand that I haven't mastered. Almost all Essies take me three coats to get it even and opaque. I'm a two-coater kinda gal, I'm just too lazy to put on a third coat. Then at the end of this mani, I got lint in it.. sad :( That is what you see on my middle finger, those two bumps are LINT. I hate it when that happens!! I just don't have the patience to go back and do the nail again since I had to put three coats of polish on. The only Essie that I never have trouble with is Jelly Apple which is my HG red creme/jelly.

Does anyone else have a brand that they just can't get to work for them?? Any tips for me for using Essie?