Judo...Orange?

Recently I've been wearing a lot of previously posted favourites, so I haven't had much new to share. Sometimes I get into a rut with a polish or two and just fall madly in love - when that happens I just don't want to wear anything else. Maybe I should do a round-up post of my favourite spring polishes...let me know if that appeals to you!

That being said, I've been working really hard at my new job recently (but I LOVE it!) and I decided I needed a treat. I've had my eye on the Victoria Beckham Nails Inc polishes for a little while, and I thought that one of those would be a perfect luxe present to myself to celebrate one month on the job. I picked "Judo Red". The light pink looked nice and neutral, but the idea of a chic tomato-red polish just felt more special and celebratory. I imagined it as a beautiful accent to all of my monochromatic clothes. (Seriously, taupe is a "colour" to me.)

Too bad it's not tomato red on me but carrot orange instead.

This picture doesn't represent it's full level of orange-ness. In most lights, it strongly resembles OPI A Roll in the Hague (post here). If it looked like this photo in real life, I would be over the moon. THRILLED. Alas, it does not. 

Not that orange polish isn't lovely. It is! In this case, the dream and the reality just didn't match up. My skin tends to make warm things look even warmer, and that might be the case here.

I am not a big returner of makeup (clothes are another story). I am one of those people who researches a purchase to death before taking the plunge, and I hate knowing that the items I return are typically destroyed, per store policy. And I NEVER (repeat: NEVER) return nail polish. If it's not love, I usually find a friend to adopt it. However, this one was so pricey, it's going back. Plus, I've already identified it's replacement: Chanel Coquelicot. It looks to be a touch deeper and one step redder, and perhaps it will be my ideal tomato-red polish!

Tomato, tomato. Perhaps the colour just isn't for me?

k2k

Hare Polish: Electric Flame

Electric Flame by Hare Polish really is a hard polish to capture on camera, you can't quite get all the nuances of it.

It's a  peachy orange jelly with glowing blue and purple glass flecks and the same iridescent blue hexes. It really does glow on your nails, can't get it in the picture although I tried my hardest.

This is 3 coats on its own.

indoors

 

direct sunlight

Information: Facebook // Etsy // Llarowe

Sephora+Pantone Tangerine Tango

Sephora+Pantone Tangerine Tango

Looks more orange in bottle than on the nail: it dries into an orange-y red. Three coats, very smooth application. I think this was last year's...? (Man, grad school has a way of making you lose track of time.)

Pahlish: Big Red Lobster Man

I don't wear orange too often, but I like it as a color. Orange glitters are rare, too, which is why I felt compelled to purchase this one from Pahlish when I saw it. I layered over Essie: Vermillionaire.

I really like the combination of glitters over the orange. It's copper, orange and hot orange hex glitters with random yellow square glitter and iridescent square glitters. I wore this when it was cooler out, but it definitely brought a summer vibe to my nails!

One can find Pahlish at her Facebook here, her Etsy here and also on Llarowe :)

Bourjois Tangerine Fatal

Bourjois Tangerine Fatal

It's not quite a tangerine color. More like a peach. And it occupies that space between jelly and creme, where the glossiness makes it looks squishier than usual. Four coats. 

OPI...Eurso Euro chevron nail art

After I swatched a few polishes from OPI's Euro Centrale collection on my blog here last week, my friend asked to borrow OPI... Eurso Euro. So to make sure I was properly sick of it before sending it off on its little journey (sob) I thought I'd nail art it up a bit, with last year's tangerine (ulta3 Tangerine Tango).

I taped the white chevrons, but then I couldn't be bothered waiting for the white to dry to tape off the orange, so I freehanded it and it looked pretty good - I think my freehand skills have definitely improved!

And then before I took it off, I turned it into ALIEN COWS. Because clearly thesis writing has driven me insane.

I am totally in love with OPI...Eurso Euro - it's such a rich blue! Definitely a keeper.

Butterscotch Penny - OPI Rising Star

I've been knee-deep in vampy polishes for a few weeks now, but when I feel the need to lighten up, I usually like to go with a bronze/gold metallic. (My favourite is OPI DS Glow.) Today, I bring you OPI Rising Star. I saw it on vintageortacky on YouTube one day and HAD to have it.



OK so this probably isn't the most flattering shade on me. BUT it is more flattering in person than in this picture. The colour is like a very clean penny coated in butterscotch. Yum. I do like this very much, but I am seriously a sucker for anything gold....

Are you a fan of bronze/gold polishes? Let me know your favs!
kittytokaren

Happy Halloween!

I've always enjoyed Halloween polishes but it seems like this year's have fallen flat from the mainstream companies, but indies have made me very happy! I'm still trying to catch up and purchase all of the ones I've been eyeing but it's a slow process :(

My Halloween manicure this year isn't very inspired, this semester has been zooming by and trying to balance school and real life (along with my gaming tendencies hah) has given me less time for manicure originality.

The orange polish is KBShimmer: Orange Pop. It's multicolored glitter in a orange jelly base. I didn't use a base color underneath it but I probably should have, as it took about 5-6 coats to get to the opacity/glitter distribution that I wanted, but even then the polish wasn't "thick" on the nail. The ring finger is American Apparel Hassid with a gradient of Hit Polish: Citrus Salad.

Last year's Halloween manicure is one I already featured, but it's a goodie, so :)

Lynnderella Cauldron Droppings gradient over black, first glossy then mattified.

The year before I was feeling a bit "artistic" and did some nail art:

Did y'all go with a Halloween manicure? If so, was there black and orange included? :) Happy Halloween!

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.

China Glaze: Fireside Glow + Dollish Polish: Random Dancing

Along with all the things that have been happening lately, I've somehow managed to kill my video card, rendering me unable to use my PC for the past week. How I relieve stress is either eating, playing video games, or doing my nails. As I have cut my finger last week, doing my nails has been difficult. Sigh. I apologize for the late posting, I've been caught up in that and just remembered this morning I had a post due.

I'll be getting a new video card this week, so that'll be sorted out!

As I am unable to get to my PC, I looked through my camera and found a NOTD I had not posted yet. It's from a while ago, I just never got around to putting it up.

It's an odd combination that I liked a lot.

The base glitter is China Glaze: Fireside Glow. I think it was an ULTA exclusive last winter. It's a copper glitter with some silver/holo glitter scattered throughout, all the same size (small glitter). It was very sparkly and I liked it a lot more than I thought I would!

On top of it I added Dollish Polish: Random Dancing. I've had this polish for a while but never got around to it. I love the colors and the glitters, but if I recall correctly, it was amazingly difficult to apply. The base was very thick... I should have thinned it out but I was a bit stubborn. Either way, it worked out well.

Do you like this odd glitter combination?

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.

OPI Hot & Spicy

I keep thinking that I MUST have posted this, I wear it so often. But I don't think I have, at least not on its own (if I recall, my first post here was this underneath white crackle, which is still a favourite combo of mine). It's a colour I gravitate towards when I'm not sure what to wear, and I keep picking accidentally up dupes of it when I'm having an idle browse, so clearly this is a colour deep rooted in my subconscious somewhere.

This is a aoftened orangey red with a slight terracotta undertone. It's very summery, makes a lovely colour for toes, and goes with everything. It was released with the Hong Kong collection and while I have no idea whether it embodies that inspiration, I really like it, especially with gold or white accents.

Lynnderella: Cauldron Drippings

This is one pretty polish. Very Halloween-y. In fact, this swatch is from last Halloween! Notice the super dry skin :( I need to be more consistent with my moisturizing, haha, especially in the fall/winter, even if I am in the South.

I like glitter gradients, and this one is a more subtle one, and looks more amazing, in my opinion, because the glitter lays flat. The polish itself is a mishmash of orange, green and whatever else Lynnderella threw in there -- this polish had a disclaimer stating every batch would be different because it would consist of whatever leftover glitters she had.

I remember this one garnering a bit of admiration even from those who aren't into polish :) Very pretty!

Nail Art: freehand chevrons :)

I don't wear cremes by themselves that often because they don't keep my attention like glitter does. I love cremes on other people but I need a bit more "pizzazz" for my own nails... but I was going through my polishes that I had received recently and saw a few Zoyas that looked so good next to each other and I wanted to incorporate them somehow. Dots? A gradient? Or some kind of line nail art?

And then chevrons came to mind :)

The colors:
light green: Zoya Tracie
gray: Zoya Carey
orange: Zoya Arizona
teal: Essence Bella

The only color I had a little trouble with (because it wasn't as opaque) was Zoya Arizona but a couple of coats fixed that. I love how the colors work out together and happy how steady it came out for a freehand attempt! It really is easy :) I'm going to have to do something like this for all my cremes, haha. I actually ordered some striping tape from ebay, so expect some manicures using that coming up :D

Have you tried a chevron manicure? If not, try it freehand, it's really easy! My tips are to have your hand on a surface and just move the polish across the nail, and to use opaque polishes. Also be patient between layers! Good luck!

First taste of summer - Chanel June

I thought and thought and thought about this polish since I first saw the promo pics. I finally decided not to give in and to leave it be. But Chanel regret is a special kind of regret, and I felt it creeping up on me. I got a gift card to Nordstrom's and decided to happily pull the trigger.

Chanel June

I love this beautiful orange sherbet colour! It makes me feel like summer is around the corner. Bold enough to offer a bright flash of colour on the nails, but pastel enough to fit into a springtime vibe. I don't have much like this in my collection - everything else is much pinker. It is truly a pale, but bright orange. Very special.

I hope everyone is having a good start to their spring/summer season! What polish is on the top of your "to wear" list right now?

kittytokaren

A symbol of home - OPI A Roll in the Hague

Behold, the only polish I will be keeping from the OPI Holland collection!

A Roll in the Hague is a super super bright bordering-on-neon-but-not-quite orange. The formula was actually fantastic.

I grew up in Holland, just outside of the Hague. I will always consider it home, and while this polish isn't exactly my normal fare, I'm going to keep it and love it a.) for the name and b.) because it's classic Dutch orange! I am totally wearing this during EuroCup. Totally.

Hup Holland, hup!

kittytokaren

A lot of big "meh": some LA Girl Glitter Addict swatches

I really love LA Girl polishes. They are generally inexpensive (especially if you catch a good Cherry Culture deal) and awesome (even if a little slow to dry sometimes). So I was ecstatic when I heard about the Glitter Addict collection. Ordered the whole thing on impulse before I saw many swatches. And I'm kind of annoyed at myself because now I just have a lot of new layering polishes (and I don't really like layering polishes). Without exception, all the glitters are suspended in clear jelly.

LA Girl Synergy over Orly Frisky

Gold hex glitter shows up as kind of holo in the bottle but is very sparse. And the holo doesn't really seem to show up unless in direct sunlight. Two layers. 

LA Girl Celebrate

Celebrate... what exactly? Sparse multicolored small and large hex glitter. The above is... I think it was five layers? At least it was interesting to look at and might be cute over a black or white polish. 

 Closeup of Celebrate

 LA Girl Euphoria over Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud

Lavender glitter with lavender and holo hex glitter. This one looked fabulous in the bottle: the combination of lavender and holo was stunning. On the nail, not so much. Four layers. 

LA Girl Flamboyant over Orly Fresh

I actually liked this one a lot. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because it looked like an ordinary orange glitter/orange hex glitter combo in the bottle and maybe because by this time, I had my expectations dialed down to zero. So when this came out looking as expected (two sizes of sparse orange glitter), I wasn't disappointed. Four layers.

So. Obsessed. - Essie A Crewed Interest

The Essie spring collection for this year has all finance-based names. Weird, but kind of cool? Nail polish sales have been up since the recession hit so maybe this is Essie's way of acknowledging it? Either way, whatever this polish is named after, I love it.

Essie A Crewed Interest...

A kind of mod colour with a lot of white in the base, this peachy-pink colour really struck a chord with me. I seriously stood there in front of my mirror with my hands next to my face trying to figure out what about it seemed so familiar. And then it hit me! It's the same colour as my absolute favourite, number 1, I'm-totally-obsessed-with-it blush - NARS Sex Appeal! You can see from the amount of pan how much I love this thing.

Suffice to say that despite A Crewed Interest's not-so-awesome formula - runny, doesn't seem to cover well, can be streaky - I will be wearing this *all the time* in spring and summer. I am so serious with you right now. I find that if I let each coat dry really well and wear a good ridge-filling base coat, the formula problems are minimized. And so worth it. Besides, who doesn't like accruing a little interest - even if it's just attention and not money?

What polish are you expecting to wear a lot this spring?

kittytokaren

Orly Emberstone

I'm not going to lie, this wasn't my first choice when the Orly Mineral Fx collection came out, but what can I say... you put something on clearance (thank you, Sally's) and I am ALL OVER IT.

Orly Emberstone with Black Konad Special Polish and Bundle Monster Plate

I have to say, though, I really liked this polish. It definitely smoldered like embers due to its red-orange hue and the shimmer was great. I loved this Bundle Monster design as well as it looked both "flamey" and "flowery."

A winner, I'd say!

Happy polishing!

Why I stopped using Diamont: Chanel Coco Blue and China Glaze Papaya Punch

I loved Diamont but the quick drying time and its longevity finally could not hold up to the sheer number of bubbles it causes in most of my nail polishes. After taking these photos back in the early fall, I started using Poshe as a topcoat for cremes and subtle shimmers (on my fingernails) but everything else still gets Diamont.

China Glaze Papaya Punch

Sent to me from China Glaze, from their Island Escape (Summer 2011) collection. Bright papaya orange creme. Kind of hell to apply (four coats to even out), took a quite a bit of time to dry. I loved it... except for the Diamont bubbles. 

Chanel Coco Blue

From Chanel's Jeans collection. A light blue creme with very fine white shimmer. Three coats, kind of middle-of-the-line Chanel quality. I've had better, I've had worse. Not worth $29 but I like it enough to keep. (Also, I give "keep" preference to short square bottles. So much easier to organize into compact spaces.)