China Glaze Pinking Out the Window

Suddenly I want to flower all the things. 

I've been wearing a lot of pink and coral lately, and this one is fast becoming a favorite of mine; it's been on my nails most of May. 

Pinking Out the Window is a bright, cheerful carnation pink with just a drop of coral. It can look more pink or more coral depending on the lighting, and is not photographing as bright as it is in person. For whatever reason, it wants to photograph like a neon. 

Application isn't amazing, but it's not horrible. The first two coats are somewhat streaky, but a third seems to even everything out fairly well. 

I added some flower decals I bought at Daiso Japan. They're not the best quality, but they're so darn cute I just couldn't resist them. They came on a sheet with these cute little orange starfish that I'll try once I am in a blue mood.

The next manicure I show will be flowery as well. Bring them on!!!!

Zoya Maya

I really need to come to terms with the fact that colors like this just won't photograph as pretty as they are in real life. 

Maya is a subdued, peachy coral true jelly. The formula is thick, but not unmanageable. Don't be surprised if I go ahead and wear this for the rest of the summer. 

I did three coats. It was still a bit patchy after, and unfortunately I got some bubbling; the heat and humidity right now are just disgusting. However my top coat took care of them! I don't know how, but one coat of European Secrets Rock Top Coat and it was like they never happened.  Mayhaps the bubbling of summers past will no longer plague me?

Jesse's Girl JulieG

I will start this off by saying that, under normal circumstances, I have a natural aversion to neons. They sear my retinas, make my skin look muddy, and just all-around bum me out. They are bold and bright and summery and cheerful, and I am the opposite of all these things most of the time (except cheerful-I do try to keep that one up as much as I can). But I'm not sure if JulieG is a neon, or just extra bright...it looks quite different in the bottle. Oddly enough though, I like it. Like, a LOT.

It's a bright coral creme, nothing special, but a real pick-me-up. The formula was smooth, but streaky, so it took four coats before I was happy (habitual two-coaters aren't going to like this one), but the color makes up for it for me. You know I love me a coral. It seems they only sell Jesse's Girl at Rite Aid, but they're super cheap-I picked up JulieG for about 3 bucks.

I have one other neon to feature here, I'll probably space it out a bit, though. I found a summer Maybelline collection at Bed Bath & Beyond back in April and bought the coral one. I've already worn it, and it's not hideous on me, so I'll probably pull that out in a month or so.

Sally Hansen Something New

Coral fever. I has it. 

The weather has dipped down to a bone-chilling 79 degrees, so I'm feeling up for a proper manicure. Ignore the boo-boos on my ring finger-when it's super hot like it has been lately, hangnails are the least of your worries. 

Also I took these pictures with my iPhone, just to see how they'd turn out. Nice, jah?

Something New is from the Diamond Strength line, which seems to have wedding-themed names. It's a delightful coral jelly that photographs slightly more opaque than it is in real life. I used three coats plus top coat. Dry time was on the slow side, but the superb brush more than made up for it. 

Off to get a million things done. With cooler temps comes energy. Whee!

It's Fucking Hot; also O.P.I. Guy Meets Gal-veston

It's been hot. Really freaking hot. I cannot stress how absolutely miserable the weather has been in the last week or so. Just.off.the.fucking.charts.hot.

It was 102 degrees in my living room yesterday. And I don't know if you know, but taking care of a partially paralyzed person when it's 102 degrees is way, way harder than taking care of them in say, 75 degrees. I'm not good in heat under the best of circumstances. At best, I'm whiny and lethargic. At worst, I'm a monster that does unspeakable things. While crying.

Needless to say, I couldn't care less about nail polish right now. I'm trying to keep from dying of heatstroke.

That's not to say I'm not wearing nail polish. I couldn't sleep last night (heat) so I painted my nails and watched Frozen (for the bajillionth time; "Let it Go" still gives me chills when I listen to it):

This is from O.P.I.'s "sorbet" collection, and it's Guy Meets Gal-veston. It's a bad iPhone picture; it's a really pretty, juicy deep pinky-coral that looks soft or fiery depending on the light situation. I bought it (you guessed it) hoping it'd be close to Fire Fly. It's the same idea, but too intense and bright. It makes my skin look slightly tanned, which I really like, and I cannot wait to slap this jelly on my toes. You're looking at four coats, and though the picture doesn't show it, my half-moons were still very visible. It's a jelly (or sorbet, whatever) in the truest sense of the word; you're not going to get opaque coverage with this one. 

The weather is supposed to cool down in a day or so, and even dip down into the low 70's. Hopefully then I'll feel up to doing a manicure with some of the new polishes I've acquired (there are soooooo many and they're all soooooooooo pretty) and take proper pictures. In the meantime, I'm taking good care of my grandmother, and watching Netflix in the dark. See you when I emerge.

Orly Cheeky

Say hello to a naughty polish that has the cheek (hurr) to not photograph properly.

I spied this beauty on the nails of one of my favorite bloggers (please go by her swatches, they are MUCH more color accurate than mine), and seeing as it's a coral, well...I had to buy it. 

It's bright, punchy and leans slightly more orange than pink, which I normally don't like, but I'm willing to overlook it because of the shimmer. Oh ye gods, THE SHIMMER. It is predominantly gold, but you get flashes of yellowish-green. It's not shy; it's delicious, in-your-face SHIMMAH. 

Formula was where it got tricky. The consistency was smooth and even, but it did streak a bit. I got dragging on a couple of nails, and it took 3 1/2 coats to get it to behave. But I.Do.Not.Care. It's gorgeous, springy, juicy, and delightful. Upside was that dry time was excellent. 

If you like coral, get your butt to Sally's and buy this.

Off to get the house ready for tomorrow. It's Nana's 88th birthday, and we're having a big celebration for it. It hasn't been a banner year so far, but we're fighting as hard as we can. And we're gonna win. 

My Little Bottle of Sunshine; or, The Coral That Started it All: Maybelline Express Finish Fire Fly

We've all got that one polish. Regardless of price, formula, or availability, it's our perfect polish and we will accept nothing less. You're looking at the reason I love corals so much. The formula is less than stellar, it doesn't do well covering my smile lines, and technically doesn't exist since I can't find it anywhere online, or even confirm it existed with Maybelline, but this doesn't stop me from proclaiming: THIS IS THE MOST PRECIOUS AND LOVED POLISH IN MY STASH. Not only that, it has a lot of memory attached to it.

This feels so weird typing, but come on. We've all got a polish like this in our stash. Right?

Fire Fly came into my life in 2002. I was a sophomore in high school, nervous, quiet, and a festering anxiety disorder compounded with crippling depression (then undiagnosed) caused me to chew my nails into oblivion. A girl who sat in front of me in my Spanish class, aside from always being well-dressed and beautiful, sported the most perfect coral nail polish. It accentuated her subtle tan and made me wish I wasn't so pale. And messy-looking. Despite my tastes leaning more toward black and dark red (or on the other end of the spectrum, silver holographic glitter bombs), I set out to find my own little bottle of sunshine. Maybe it would magically help me dress better, and act less like a dying fish when interacting with people. After poking in Long's Drugs a bit (this is how old this polish is...12 YEARS...when CVS was still Long's Drugs) I found a display of new Maybelline polishes and snapped it up. How I wish I'd bought the whole rack.

I wore it constantly. I may have worn mostly black clothes, purple eyeliner, and Chuck Taylor's so beaten up they belonged in the trash, but I LOVED my coral polish. It helped me chew on my fingertips less, and brightened my otherwise doleful outlook. I used the whole bottle up, and then promptly forgot about it. Other stuff got in the way...crushes, homework, first relationship, friends, betrayals, going to shows, holographic polishes (Sally Hansen Nail Prisms, yo), etc. Teenagers will be teenagers.  A few years later I unearthed the bottle and panicked because all that was left was a fraction of an inch of dried-up gunk. I wanted to wear my coral polish and I couldn't (it didn't occur to me at the time that one could have more than a single coral at a time. Chalk it up to loyalty...or stupidity, take your pick). I searched online...nothing. It was like it didn't exist.

MakeupAlley confirmed that I wasn't crazy. I put a question up on the nail board and a very kind girl answered me, and even offered to send me the bottle she had. I almost cried. I've met the nicest people on that site.

I've tried to use it sparingly, but it's hard, seeing as how it's my everything (in terms of coral). The bottle is about half gone, so until I can find a reasonable dupe, or manage to stockpile a whole bunch of bottles of Fire Fly (listed under 'Utopian Dream') I probably won't wear it as a full manicure after this. It's too precious. The way most varnish veterans feel about Clarin's 230, I feel about Fire Fly.

It's not that special, considering what it is. It's a coral jelly, not too orange, not too pink; just a perfect blend of both. It's bright without being obnoxious or making my skin look dirty (I find really bright shades bordering on neon, or stark, white-based colors tend to make my skin look muddy). Just cheerful and coral. But in all my years of searching for a dupe, I've not found anything like it. I've even attempted mixing my own version.Twice. Everything either is too bright, too dark, too orange or pink, too opaque/creamy...there's a reason I've got a ton of coral polish. While I appreciate them for what they are now, they were, admittedly, purchased in the hope that they would resemble my beloved Fire Fly. None have come close.

And I guess, in a sense, it also is special because it reminds me of a time in my life where, although I was troubled and figuring things out, I was happy. I didn't know I was happy at the time, I was too busy being a depressed teenager. But looking back, I had a lot to be thankful for. I discovered what love felt like. I realized what it was to feel beautiful and have self-esteem. I felt I belonged to humanity in a way I felt I hadn't belonged before. I discovered a talent for writing (that I've been neglecting a lot in the last few years). So this little bottle of sunshine means a lot to me emotionally. It's just one of those polishes.

We've all got one.

P.S. This was three coats. There was bubbling, but not as much as you'd expect from a 12-year old jelly. A couple of coats of NYC Grand Central Station masked most of them.

EDIT: A picture for you from under my makeup mirror light, to show brightness! Taken with my iPhone, my camera would never have been able to do this. I might just start just taking pictures with my phone now:

So pretty!

Nicole by O.P.I. Sweet Daisy

Spring means a few things to me: cutting my curly hair short, jean jackets, white sundresses, and coral nails. Also Lolita Lempicka. Say hello to the first coral of the season. 

Sweet Daisy, while beautiful, does not cooperate in natural sunlight. You're looking at a very washed out version of it. In reality, it is a nice bright pinky peach. Literally a perfect coral. I tend to go for the more subtle, soft jelly corals (forever looking for a Maybelline Firefly dupe) and this one is just that. It can look completely peach in certain lights, but mostly it's just cute and coral.

I spent weeks picking it up and considering it whenever I was in the drugstore, thinking, naaaah it leans too brown, it'd look horrible on me. I bought it a couple days ago (out of frustration really-I was sick of meandering over to the N.O.P.I. rack and looking at it) and I.AM.SO.GLAD.I.DID. I have a LOT of coral nail polish, more than any other color in my collection, and it's one of my favorite colors to wear on my nails. I can buy them and buy them, and no two I own are exactly alike. 

Basically, I love coral. 

This was three thin, creamy coats over my Essie ridge-filling base coat (oh the pastels I'll be wearing this spring, mwahahaha) and NYC Grand Central Station on top. I was dog tired last night so I fell asleep before it was 100% dry and got a few sheet marks, but they're not too noticeable. Normally something like that would irritate the hell out of me, but I either don't care anymore or just am too tired to care. 

Getting my hair cut later today. Let's all pray I don't go for the Ginnifer Goodwin. Looks dynamite on her, I'd look awful with it. I'm watching too much Once Upon a Time. 

Also it's my grandfather's 92nd birthday today. So there will be cake later. 

Here's to hoping spring goes okay.

Barielle Fifth Avenue Boutique

My gold wire ring finally bit the dust a couple weeks ago and its replacement just arrived! I wanted to go with something slightly different, and I couldn’t resist the blue bead. So to compliment it, here’s Barielle’s Fifth Avenue Boutique. I actually bought this on accident with my last Trans Design order, but it was definitely a happy one since I never turn down a coral.

Fifth Avenue Boutique is a really fierce, almost neon coral. It’s hard to tell what way it leans, because sometimes it’s almost red-coral, and other times more orange-coral. I guess it really depends on the lighting. Either way, it’s incredibly bright and summery.

This was three-ish coats, with Grand Central Station. Dry time was good and the formula wasn’t streaky.

It’s been a pretty rough week so far. Too tired to really talk about it; hopefully I’ll feel better though.

Chanel Miami Peach

Hooray for sloppy graduation nails! I did these late at night; I was stressed, tired, and irritated, and obviously they look awful. But I got a ton of compliments on the color over the course of the day, and one person even asked me if they were gel. So I guess they just look worse in the pictures than in real life.

This is the only Chanel I will ever care to own. I don’t find many of their colors terribly unique, the price tag is frankly outrageous, and eventually the most popular colors get duped, so I can find them at a much cheaper price.

This one is a little different though. It’s a Japan exclusive, and I’m not going to admit to anyone what I paid for it. Ever. But it’s a coral. A jelly coral. It’s the color of mermaid lips, as my sister said when she saw it.

What makes it cooler than any other coral I’ve seen is not only the soft, peachy undertone, but the dynamite gold shimmer in it. It’s just so whimsical and fun.

However, the formula leaves much to be desired. Since it’s supposed to be sheer, I won’t complain about the five coats it took to get this opaque (the pulling at the tips is because of this-really obvious in the pictures, but not so much in real life), but I will complain about the staying power. This chips. Fast. If I’m paying *mumble* for a nail polish, I want it to wear like iron. I have the same problem with Rescue Beauty Lounge polishes, but I refuse to pay more than $8 for a base or top coat; I want to be able to use what I already have.

Regardless, the color is to die for, and it brought my outfit together really well.

Yay for graduating college!