BYS Glitter Blue and final thesis hand-in, hurray!

Sorry I've been a bit slack here! I've been posting so many nail things on my own blog that Polish or Perish has been quite neglected, not to mention that I've recently handed in my final, hard-bound emended thesis, so I'll hopefully be in the November graduation round and I'll be Dr Muffin. Hurrah!

So now I get to enter the existential crevasse that is post-doctoral career crisis. I know what I don't want to do, but I have no idea what I actually want to do.. at least my nails are pretty!

Here's BYS Glitter Blue, a pretty silver glitter in a pale blue base that's more refined and elegant than anything else I've seen from BYS. I received it from a lovely fellow Aussie nail addict in a Christmas in July swap. It's sheer, so I layered it over Duri Summer in the City.

I was expecting it to be a thermal polish (the blue sticker on the lid usually indicates that a BYS is a colour change polish) but unfortunately I think they just made a mistake. Boo! It's still very pretty though.

Duri Fashion Police and Drama Queen

Some swatches from the Duri Spring/Summer 2010 collection. I bought a ton more but haven't had the time to finish swatching them. Both of these are fairly sheer at three coats.

Duri Fashion Police

Okay, I can forgive the sheerness of this polish. For some reason, I really like this blue foil despite its sheerness. It kind of just burns in sunlight.

Duri Drama Queen

Okay... it's a yellowy-chartreusey shimmer that's pretty sheer. Which is pretty rare in my collection but I think the reason for that is because it's kind of fug and makes me look lobstery.

Some Duri swatches!

Duri's a brand that I've had passing familiarity with for awhile though I think I've only really seen them in stores in NYC. They're reasonably priced ($5 and shipping is free for purchases over $10 at the Duri website), have a fairly wide selection of colors, and the polishes apply well. The colors aren't spell-binding as a whole but there are definitely some gems.

Extra bonus is that they are quick shippers: I've ordered twice from them and one took five days and the other took two days. Two days. From East to West Coast. That, folks, is customer service. Mm-hmm.

Duri Flirt

Pearl grey (and slightly pearly) with light purple shimmer. I like it as a white alternative. It's still pretty stark but the sheen softens it. It's not quite white, not quite grey, not quite purple. It's not a color I have a lot of so it's definitely a keeper. :)

Duri Hawaiian Honeymoon

Bubblegum pink creme. Pretty straightforward.

Duri Show Time

24K gold shade. Two coats here, though it needed three. I can't make my mind up on this one. In the photo (and really up-close) it looks nice but from afar, it kinda just blends in to my (again, yellow tanned) skin. It's pretty ordinary, especially compared to my last Duri swatch...

Duri Georgio Classic

Okay, some people might not like brushstrokes but I think it suits this color and finish very well. I'm totally in love with this molten rose gold. The color is considerably richer than the Inglot 179 (and is half the price).

All in all, the packaging and brush are pretty de rigeur for non-wide brushes. The only thing that bothered me slightly about this brand was the scent of the polish. It seems to be stronger smelling than my other polishes and even though I'm very used to the scent of polish, I started getting annoyed after two swatches. Unless you can find it at a steal somewhere online, I'm not sure they're worth $5 each... but hey, at least the shipping's free if you get two or more polishes. :)