O.P.I. Black Cherry Chutney

Holy vampy Batman, I’d forgotten how much I adore this color…how much I adore vampies in general. I feel that my fingers look longer and more elegant when I wear vampy polishes, even if my nails are short.

Do I even need to explain this classic? Blackened base with the most glowing ruby/wine colored shimmer. In certain lights the shimmer turns brownish red, and always there are flashes of purple/blue. Pure perfection. Even indoors you get subtle flashes of color-this beauty never looks just black.

This was two coats with NYC (what else).

butter LONDON Jaffa

Naturally, when I decide I have my nails at a length I like, one of them breaks (I’m looking at you, middle finger). I trimmed my nails down as much as I could bear, but the days of nubs are over for me. Might as well change my polish at the same time, right?

I’m a Halloween purist (and incidentally, a Halloween nut). For me, orange is not a summer color-it’s reserved for my Halloween manicures. Jaffa is a bit different though. It’s a juicy orange with just a hint of pink in it that places it far away enough from true orange for me to want to wear it now. The pictures are a bit deceptive-it’s slightly more coral-looking in real life.

The formula was downright annoying. Just the worst. Generally "crellies" go on streaky and level themselves out after a minute, but this was not the case with Jaffa. Each coat was as streaky as the last. After four coats I gave up and applied top coat, hoping that would even it out. Luckily it did.

It’s truly gorgeous, I love the color, though maybe not enough to struggle though the formula.

Ciate Apples and Custard

I need a break from all the glittery goodness I’ve been wearing lately so I thought I’d crack out one of my favorite cremes. This polish wouldn’t have been mine without the kindness of another wonderful MakeupAlley member. Honestly, I’ve met the kindest people there. The exchange rate and shipping, and obviously the already high price of Ciate polishes would have cost me about 30 bucks (if I ordered from the Ciate website), but a girl offered to send me a bottle for free, and even included a little extra. Really. Too, too nice.

Despite the silliness and drama Ciate has dealt out in the past with the caviar manicure, they have, hands down, the best formula and brush I’ve come across. The brush is medium-thin, firm, the long handle makes it very easy to control. And as for the formula, it’s smooth and creamy, and dries relatively quickly.

And lets be honest. The bottle is the cutest thing. Even if the formula were horrible, I’d probably want it just for the bottle.

Apples and Custard is a lovely, creamy jade/celadon green, muted but bright. It can look slightly different in different lights, darker or lighter depending. It’s so, so flattering and soft.

Three coats of Apples and Custard, and NYC top coat.

HARE Polish Own Your Opulence & O.P.I. My Pointe Exactly

At first I thought this particular HARE glitter would have looked better over something like Barre My Soul or You Callin’ Me a Lyre? but damn…this combination just tickles me in all the right places.

It’s been nice and overcast and cool all day, but that also means I had to tweak the coloring in the photos to get all the glitters to come out and play. I’m not an expert at this kind of thing…hardly qualified, really, but the colors are accurate.

HARE’s description of this delightful concoction is as follows:

“Own Your Opulence is a complex mixture of satin pastels in several different shades, juxtaposed with gunmetal grey, black, and gold. Lots of goodness going on here! This polish also features gold shimmer. This is in a CLEAR base.”

Hubba hubba. The glitters just pop over the grey jelly base. I chose well, if I do say so myself. This will be an absolute nightmare to take off, but I don’t currrrrrr.

This was three coats of My Pointe Exactly, and one very generous coat of Own Your Opulence. I hardly had to “place” the glitters or fish for them-it went on smoothly. The a couple coats of Gelous and NYC top coat for glossiness.

Essie Rock the Boat

Woke up with a killer migraine today, so this’ll be quick. Rock the Boat is from an Essie 2013 summer collection (I’m honestly losing track, there are so many), and was the only one in the collection that really piqued my interest. The formula left a lot to be desired, but we’ll get to that later.

Rock the Boat is a cornflower/periwinkle blue with what seems to me to be predominantly silver glitter flecks, although there are flashes of multi-colored glitter flecks. I say glitter flecks because I really have no other name for them. I wouldn’t call it shimmer or glass-fleck, but it certainly isn’t your regular glitter-they’re incredibly small, but gritty and irregularly shaped at the same time.

In terms of formula, Rock the Boat fought me every step of the way. It just didn’t want to play nicely. It was goopy, runny, patchy, thick, bubbly, and it took about four coats to even everything out. I have another Essie, To Buy or Not to Buy, with similar glittery bits that is the same; streaky and uncooperative.

Still, it’s gorgeous, so I put up with it. Isn’t that always the way?

Rescue Beauty Lounge 360 & Essie Beyond Cozy

So not only is the NYC Grand Central Station top coat better than any other I’ve tried, it’s a fraction of the cost and prevents my fastest chipping polishes from flaking off. If you do not have this top coat yet, WHY!!?? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU! GO OUT AND GET IT NOW! SHOO!

Before you are two beautiful polishes, both guaranteed to chip (RBL) or peel off in sheets (Essie) within twelve hours of application. However, this manicure is two days old. I wasn’t overly careful, I showered, did some dishes, and scratched at many bug bites. Marvelous.

360 is described on the website as a “deep-water aqua blue polish”. There’s some grey in there too, definitely, and the most gorgeous subtle silver and teal shimmer. The shimmer all but disappears on the nail, but it adds dimension to what would otherwise be a flat creme color. It’s incredibly pigmented, one coat and you’ve got pure color with no patchiness. I really appreciate the artistry that goes into making these polishes, and now that NYC has entered my life, I can wear them without worrying about chips.

Essie Beyond Cozy is a perfect antiqued silver glitter. I love everything about it. What more is there to say?

2 coats of each polish, a couple coats of Gelous over the glitter, and NYC top coat. The color combination just drives me wild-it’s so chic.

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.

Ruby Kisses #RNP 50

There are two things that don’t do this polish justice. First, that I don’t know its name. The only identifying label I could find on it was #RNP 50, and Google yielded nothing. Second, I was unable to capture the pretty goldy-green shimmer in it, so the pictures make it look a bit flat.

I received this as an extra in a care package from a very kind girl on Makeup Alley. It’s definitely an old polish, with that good ole ‘90’s formula and a stench of death. But’s it’s so lovely and flattering.

As best as I can make out, it walks the line between a pearly off-white and a pearly pale grey. In certain lights it can look more like one or the other, and all the while boasts gorgeous gold/green shimmer. It’s a very unobtrusive nail polish, probably boring by today’s standards, but I can’t get enough of it.

It does, however, come with its own set of problems. In addition to the overly-chemical smell (yeah, yeah I know, it’s nail polish), it takes FOREVER to dry. That’s to be expected with these old nail polishes. The trade off for that smooth creamy formula is an incredibly long dry time. I polished last night, took the pictures around two in the afternoon next day, and if I’m careless, the polish will dent. And I don’t have any high-speed top coat to help it dry. Ah well.

Now I’m off to turn the house upside down for my SPF 10000000000. It’s so hot and bright and horrible today.

HARE Polish Dauphine of Decadence & Sephora by O.P.I. Cartwheels on the Catwalk

I believe my gradient skills are becoming a little better. I tried a method I found here thanks to Imperfectly Painted and I found it a lot easier than sponging the glitter. I doubt I’ll ever get it right, but it’s good enough for me.

I haven’t got good undies for the rest of the HARE jellies yet, so I thought I’d start making a dent in the glitters. Here’s the description for Dauphine of Decadence:

“Dauphine of Decadence is a mixture of gold glitter in several sizes of hex and square glitter, with a sprinkling of pale mint green hexes as a subtle accent. This shade also features striking gold shimmer! This is in a CLEAR base.”

It goes without saying that I love this. Gold and I have been lifelong friends, and I can confidently say that the shimmer in Dauphine of Decadence has outstripped the 24k gold dust shimmer in Deborah Lippmann’s Boom Boom Pow. Hands down. In my head,anyway. There’s more depth in this glitter, and the pretty mint sequins take it way over the top (which is a good thing if you’re inspired by the French Court in the late 18th century).

Anyway, I chose Cartwheels on the Catwalk, my favorite blue, to layer under the glitter. I love the effect…pretty faded, dusty blue and glitzy gold glitter.

Life is becoming a bit easier for me; the main trouble I have lately is being unable to sleep. I also find myself missing school a lot, which was an enormous shock to me. I’d spent the last two years of my life impatient to get out of school…now all I want to do is crawl back into that familiar phase of my life.

HARE Polish Return to Nature

While I’m not feeling anywhere close to better, I had an urge to do my nails last night. My HARE polishes have been shut up in my closet since they came, so I guess I’ll start with (in my opinion) one of the prettiest ones.

Since I’m ill-equipped to describe anything more complicated than a shimmer, I’ll use the description from the HARE website:

“Return to Nature is a beige/khaki crelly (creme-jelly) with a mixture of small gold and silver glitters, plus a dusting of small white squares. This shade also features gold shimmer.”

As I’ve said before, not many handmade nail polishes catch my eye, but HARE’s seem to be the exception. They are well-made, beautifully inspired, and seem to have that extra oomph that I feel a lot of indie brands lack. They’re really top-quality, and the formula is truly amazing for a glittery jelly.

I layered one coat of Return to Nature over two coats of China Glaze Nude-the only nudey-dudey polish that I really like on myself. It’s incredibly close to my skin tone. Return to Nature dried quite quickly, but a bit satin-y, so top coat is needed.

And because my best friend loves fuchsia so very much, I gave her Party Palace, so there won’t be a swatch of that. She did a little dance of glee when I gave her the bottle. :)

So yes…a step towards normality. I’m just taking it a day at a time right now, and constantly reminding myself that I will be well again. I’m very lucky to have such a good support system-a family, a loving boyfriend and best friend, good doctors…I know I’m in good hands right now. Mental illness is an incredibly tricky thing to deal with, but I won’t let it ruin my life.

One day at a time.