O.P.I. Amazon...Amazoff

I was worried Amazon...Amazoff would look similar to M.A.C. Screening Room...I was right. The only difference between these polishes? O.P.I. has blue-ish emerald shimmer. Booo. I mean look at this mani, then look at M.A.C. Screening Room. Pretty much the exact manicure, down to the Boom Boom Pow accent nails. 

I guess I know what I like. 

I think in real life, Amazon...Amazoff leans much more green than Screening Room, so I take solace in that. It's a super-gorgeous deep teal with subtle, tonal shimmer that, while not invisible, isn't in-your-face; it really deepens and enriches the base color. Screening Room, by comparison, is much brighter in person and a straight-up creme.

This manicure is something I'd wear in winter, but I was feeling something deep and moody today. And of course Boom Boom Pow because it's like, the best glitter top coat ever made. 

Slowly getting over my cold. Yesterday helped a lot; I celebrated my two-year anniversary with my boyfriend. We ate at the restaurant we had our first date in, which was super lovely and romantic (in spite of the terrible jazz covers of 80's hits), played with Ripley and then went to a little bakery and bought French macarons, and mochi ice cream and feasted while watching Once Upon a Time. I seriously could not have a better boyfriend, guys. I basically spent yesterday eating awesome food and watching silly shows and cuddling with an amazing, handsome man...total dream come true. :D 

China Glaze Teal the Tide Turns

You're either going to love or hate this polish. Every review I read on them was either die-hard love, or eternal hate. Guess which one I am.

As an ardent texture fan, I must express my humble opinion and say that this is the most beautiful and interesting take on a texture. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this polish. It's so beautiful and pebbly and reminds me of beautiful rocks, the beach, and sea glass. It makes me want to lie on a towel in warm sand and take a long nap.

Teal the Tide Turns has a lot going on inside the bottle. The base is a creamy, bright celadon green. It's got a hint of translucency that is just so delicate and whimsical. Interspersed are small emerald green hex glitters that twinkle and catch the light. Finally, there are white particles that look very much like sand! Fantastic! They (I assume) produce the texture effect. Have I mentioned I'm in love???

All together, this manicure shouts, "BEACHES! MERMAIDS! LAGOONS!" to me. It makes me want to spritz myself with L de Lolita Lempicka (my favorite summer scent), and go frolic in the waves.

Formula was pretty good, considering everything that's going on in it. I used three coats, but I think I'll do two when I wear it again next. Three made everything a little lumpier than I would have liked. It dries sort of creamy/glassy, which is just breathtaking (to me).

So yeah. HOME RUN, CHINA GLAZE!!! I love it!

L'Oreal Pop the Bubbles

I had a couple bad breaks over the last few days, so I just cut all my nails down. I've had a free edge for so long now that the tip of my index finger (worst break) actually hurts a little. It's a weird sensation. 

I needed a really low-maintenance manicure since I'm too tired to really care about my nails right now. So here's another Gold Dust polish. They've quickly become one of my favorite texture lines.

Pop the Bubbles is a light, bright blue-green with a hint of grey.  It may not look like there's grey in it, but when I set it next to other blue-greens I own, it's more apparent. This comparison from imabeautygeek.com is a good example. Interspersed are pretty silver glitters; very mermaid-y. Makes me want to go to the beach. 

This was two easy coats, no clean up (I know I've said it before, but best brushes evarrrr), no top coat. This is such a lovely polish guys, it's really cheering me up right now. I'm looking for the small victories. A polish I like will do. 

MAC Screening Room

I was perusing the MAC counter with my best friend last week and came across the Indulge offerings. I used to keep track of MAC collections religiously, but have since cooled on them. While I’d still love to come across a By Candlelight Skinfinish someday, makeup isn’t really my game anymore.

Naturally when I saw a new nail polish collection with the makeup stuff I got very excited. I zeroed in on Screening Room as the crown jewel. I mean, honestly…LOOK AT IT! GORGEOUS!!! It’s so bright and lovely!

Under the MAC counter lights it looked really blackened in the bottle, and I immediately snapped it up, but on the way home I began to worry that it would look too much like NOPI’s Khloe Had a Little Lam Lam (what the hell does that even mean!?) but am happy to report that KHaLLL is MUCH greener and darker.

Screening Room is a deep, vivid, blue-based teal; it’s reminiscent of the blue in peacock wings, actually. It’s a creme finish and dries brighter than the color in the bottle. I absolutely love it. I love it to the moon and back…a million times. In fact, I’m seriously considering booting someone out of my top 5 favorite polishes and adding this one.

In the past, MAC nail polish hasn't been that great in terms of quality. The formula was horrible and the brush left a lot to be desired. If you still have this opinion, NO. JUST NO. Screening Room had the most well-behaved, shiny, pigmented, smooth formula of any nail polish I've come across. The brush is a little firmer so you have better control. They've really amped up their game.

Although I think $16.00 is a bit steep for the amount of polish you get (.3 oz), the beautiful color and great formula made it worth it for me.

And naturally, couldn't resist seeing what Boom Boom Pow looked over it. Awesome? Yes.

This was 3 coats with my newly thinned Grand Central Station.

HARE Polish Married to the Monarchy & OP.I. Big Apple Red

I don’t normally do 4th of July themed nails, but since I have Married to the Monarchy, I thought I might as well. I prefer to think of this as the “Amy Pond Mani”, because after seeing her rock red and blue together on Doctor Who, it made me realize just how good those colors look together. It’s also nice to get back to my beloved red polish.

Like always, I’ll use the description HARE has for Married to the Monarchy:

“Married to the Monarchy is a blend of matte teal hexes & squares + rich red hexes and squares in varied sizes. The silver shimmer is definitely not shy in this one. This is in a CLEAR base.”

I had hoped my base would be a different hue of red so the red glitters would stand out more, but it’s still really lovely. The teal glitters really pop. The formula was great, slightly bumpier than Dauphine of Decadence, but nothing horrible. I finally got a bottle of Gelous, so that made it smoothy smooth.

As for Big Apple Red, it’s one of my favorite reds (and I’ve got a lot). It’s a nice, smooth, candy apple red color that is so sophisticated. Unfortunately my pictures wash it out a bit-it’s much brighter, richer, and jelly-like in real life.

Off to wait for fireworks-they’re the only part of the 4th that I really enjoy. I never seem to have good 4th of July’s.