Zoya "Lauren"

 

Hi everyone!  So this week's nail polish is extra special because we share the same name!  I was so excited when I saw this Zoya polish and I knew I had to have it!  So without further ado this week I am wearing Zoya's "Lauren."  :)

"Lauren" is a gorgeous light beige color with an iridescent shimmer to it!  Now usually I have a difficult time with neutral nail polishes because I have found very few that look good with my skin complexion.  However Zoya's "Lauren" surprised me by looking great on me!  Formula wise "Lauren" was fantastic!  It was very easy to control and was completely opaque after two coats of polish.  Now my nails do have very minor streak marks but that is common with shimmer polishes and you'd have to look very closely to see the streaks.  As for chipping "Lauren" lasted about two days before it started wearing off the ends of my nails, which was a bit disappointing.

Overall I have mixed feelings for Zoya's "Lauren."  I love that we share the same name and have a really great formula.  But I don't necessarily love the color, because I like brighter colors) and it would have been nice to wear this nail polish for longer than two days!

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

You can grab this polish for yourself on Amazon (affiliate link)

OPI "The Living Daylights"

 

Hi everyone!  I realized it has been a while since I tried out a super chunky glitter and I decided it was time to remedy that.  So this week I decided to pull out OPI's "The Living Daylights" which is full of silver, copper, and blue glitter.  This nail polish was part of the Winter 2012 Skyfall Collection, that went along with the James Bond movie Skyfall.  And since this was a limited edition OPI collection I am not sure if "The Living Daylights" is still available in stores.

Like I said above OPI's "The Living Daylights" is a major chunky glitter that is full of six-sided, or hexagonal, glitter chunks in a clear base.  Now I love chunky glitter and it can look nice if done properly but I struggle to get it to look nice.  "The Living Daylights" was particularly difficult to handle because the clear base was on the watery side and the glitter would just move all over the nail before it finally dried.  This left me with weird thick spots of polish on my nail.  And of course with a clear base "The Living Daylights" is not meant to be worn on its own but rather on top of a colored nail polish.  So I selected China Glaze's "Harvest Moon" as a base color and applied one coat of OPI's "The Living Daylights" and here's how it turned out:

I like the combo of "Harvest Moon" and "The Living Daylights."  I did have a hard time trying to get glitter over my entire nail, and as you can see my pointer finger got a lot of glitter while my ring finger got almost none.  Now I can't tell you how long this combination would have lasted because work does not mind small glitter, but prefers that I don't wear huge chunky glitter.  However I would guess that because of the uneven way OPI's "The Living Daylights" dried that it would not take long to chip.

Side note: I've already reviewed China Glaze's "Harvest Moon" so be sure to check it out here: http://perfectlypolished12.blogspot.com/2012/05/china-glaze-harvest-moon.html

Overall I like OPI's "The Living Daylights" because the color is pretty, but I certainly wish the clear base was not as watery.  I will wear this color again but not very often because I usually go for a less out there glitter.

Also please forgive how bright these photos are, the glitter shined so much that I was unable to get better pictures.

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Sally Hansen "Berry Juicy"

Hi guys!  Now that the weather is actually warming up it is starting to feel like Summer and I am very excited!  So while I love bright colors in the Summer I decided to try out a pastel polish this week instead!  This week I decided to wear Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear polish in "Berry Juicy."

I recently purchased "Berry Juicy" and the color is gorgeous.  I knew I had to have it the second I saw it in the bottle!  In terms of the formula "Berry Juicy" was disappointingly watery and the polish didn't just go on my nails but all over my fingers!  Because of the watery formula I was unable to get thinner coats and it resulted in very thick coats.  After two coats of polish "Berry Juicy" was not opaque on my nails and left tons of streak marks!  As for chipping I don't really know because my nails looked horrific and I didn't wear "Berry Juicy" for more than a few hours.

Overall I am very disappointed with Sally Hansen's "Berry Juicy."  It's only good qualities are its super pretty color and its affordable price (at about $4 USD a bottle!)  Other than that its watery formula, thick coats of polish, the large amounts of streak marks and its inability to be opaque made me want to go crazy.  I might give this nail polish a second try, but I don't plan on wearing it much.

Thanks for reading my blog and happy May!  :)

Comparison: Nicole by OPI's "I'll Have The Salmon" and Essie's "Resort Fling"

Hi guys and happy May!  I'm so excited it is finally May and that Summer is nearly here!  I originally didn't plan on doing a comparison post this month but when I saw Nicole by OPI's "I'll Have The Salmon" and Essie's "Resort Fling" next to each other they looked so similar I just had to test it out!  Both of these polishes are brand new this year with Nicole by OPI's "I'll Have The Salmon" being created to be added to NOPI's permanent collection and Essie's "Resort Fling" being part of Essie's Spring 2014 Resort Collection.  Here's how the bottles compared:

First off clearly these nail polishes aren't going to be dupes based off their bottles.  But the camera hasn't captured the colors exactly and the bottles favor more in real life.  Both NOPI's "I'll Have The Salmon" and Essie's "Resort Fling" are warm peachy colored polishes.  Here's how they compared after one coat of polish:

After one coat it is obvious that these polishes are probably not dupes but I continued on and applied a second coat to each and here's how it turned out:

After two coats of NOPI's "I'll Have The Salmon" and Essie's "Resort Fling" I can safely say they are NOT dupes and actually on the nail they aren't very alike at all.  (I swear they look alike in the bottle in natural light!)

Here's a little bot more about each polish:

NOPI's "I'll Have The Salmon" has a good formula, was easy to apply, but I learned that applying thin coats will not make the polish opaque.  (You can especially see this on my ring finger.)  This polish is part of Nicole by OPI's permanent collection that was added this Spring.  NOPI typically costs about $8 (USD) a bottle.

Essie's "Resort Fling" has a great formula, was fairly easy to apply but it went on in thick coats and required a bit of patience.  However after two coats the polish was completely opaque.  "Resort Fling" is part of Essie's Spring 2014 Resort Collection which is a special mini collection that is released every Spring.  I bought all four polishes in the collection in a nice little box set that features small bottles (not full-sized).  Full sized Essie polishes coast about $8.50 (USD) a bottle and the box set cost about $20 (USD).

Overall while these polishes aren't dupes they are both similar and great colors for Spring and Summer.  I love both colors and I am happy to say that I will be wearing both NOPI's "I'll Have The Salmon" and Essie's "Resort Fling" again and again.

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

Julie G "Shark's Cove"

Hi guys!  I can't believe that April is almost over and that Spring is finally in full swing!  A couple of weeks ago I went to the local Rite-Aid and discovered they carry Julie G nail polish, and that it is only $3.99 (USD) a bottle!  I had heard a lot about Julie G but until now had never been able to get my hands on any!  So this week I decided to finally try out Julie G's "Shark's Cove."

Julie G's "Shark's Cove" is a gorgeous aquamarine with a lot of silver shimmer.  It literally looks like sunshine bouncing off of water!  (And happily reminds me of the beach!)  Formula wise "Shark's Cove" was very good and was super easy to apply.  After two coats "Shark's Cove" was nearly opaque and had just a few very minor streak marks.  As for chipping I was able to wear this polish for about four days before it began to chip and scrape off of the tips of my nails.

Overall I am very pleased with my first encounter with Julie G nail polish!  "Shark's Cove" is a gorgeous color, the formula was great, it was opaque and had very few streak marks and lasted a decent amount of time before chipping.  And honestly I don't have anything bad to say about Julie G's "Shark's Cove."  If you are looking for a nice aquamarine polish for Spring, "Shark's Cove" is the way to go and it is very affordable at $3.99 a bottle.

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

ULTA "Peach Parfait"

 

Hi guys!  I cannot believe that April is nearly over!  So I am very much enjoying that Spring is in full swing and I decided to wear another fun Springtime color this week!  I picked out ULTA's "Peach Parfait" which is a very pretty pinky-peach colored polish!

ULTA's "Peach Parfait" is a gorgeous color and I had been dying to try it out for a few months, but since I got this polish during the Winter I decided to hold off wearing it until the weather was nice!  Formula wise "Peach Parfait" is okay, but slightly on the watery side.  I had a hard time getting even coats of polish on my nails and after two coats of polish "Peach Parfait" was not anywhere near being completely opaque!  Also I was almost completely unable to get nice even brush strokes which means the tips of my nails are missing a lot of polish and the bad brush strokes also means I had streaks all over my nails!.  In terms of chipping it wasn't so much that "Peach Parfait" chipped off, instead it rubbed off the tips of all my nails making it look like I had only painted part of my nails!  I was able to wear ULTA's "Peach Parfait" for three days before my nails looked so bad that I took the polish off!

Overall I have come to the decision that ULTA's "Peach Parfait" is prettier in the bottle than on my nails.  The formula is only so-so and after having trouble getting even coats of polish on my nails, streaks on most of my nails, and it rubbed off my nails after only three days.  I must admit that I do not love or even like ULTA's "Peach Parfait" as I hoped I would.  I will probably give this polish another try but I wouldn't really recommend going out and buying "Peach Parfait."

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)

China Glaze "Sand Dolla Make You Holla"

Hi guys!  I hope everyone had a good Easter and enjoyed the long weekend!  This week I decided to try out China Glaze's "Sand Dolla Make You Holla" which is an interesting polish made up of a creamy white base and is full of multi colored glitter.  "Sand Dolla Make You Holla" is part of China Glaze's Spring 2014 Sea Goddess Collection.  I originally purchased this polish because of its name, which I am pretty sure is a spin off of a Honey Boo Boo saying.  (For those of you who live outside the US this is an American TV show about a Southern redneck family.)

"Sand Dolla Make You Holla" is a very unique nail polish and unlike any other in my collection.  The base is a creamy milky white color that is part crème and part jelly.  The glitter in "Sand Dolla Make You Holla" is very small and round and features red, dark blue, silver, pink and gold glitter pieces.  Formula wise this polish was a bit disappointing and it was difficult to apply.  "Sand Dolla Make You Holla" was fairly thick and the glitter made it even harder to apply, and also the polish clumped on to the brush.  After two coats the polish was still see-through and you could tell the coats were very uneven.  As for chipping "Sand Dolla Make You Holla" only made it a day and a half before I couldn't handle how horrible it looked and removed the polish.  (And this wasn't because of chipping but because of how see-through and streaky it looked!)

Overall I am very disappointed with China Glaze's "Sand Dolla Make You Holla."  Just about the only thing I liked about this polish was its name, because the formula was terrible, it was hard to apply, it wasn't opaque after two coats, had a lot of streak marks, and generally just didn't look good on my nails.  I'm not sure if I will wear this nail polish again, but maybe with practice it will become easier to apply.

Thanks for reading my blog!  :)