Summer Swatchez pt. 1

Hey, I have a bunch of swatches! Starting off is Essie Playa Del Platinum with KbShimmer Sand in My Stocking. This is the exactly glitzy sand look I'd been going for. I thought it was pretty blingy, but not one commented, so maybe not.

Playa Del Platinum is considered to be a "weird" putty color, but it looked very neutral and safe on me. I found it to be a flattering shade. It was 3 easy coats.

Sand in My Stocking is a completely unique glitter that captures the beachy feel so accurately with exactly the right combination of colors and matte and shine. The glitter looks intimidatingly dense in the bottle, but went on with a moderate amount. I easily glitzed it up with one or two swishes.

Hey, thurr's my foot.

There are a few holographic gold star sequins in Sand in My Stocking, and they mostly came out on the nails on my right hand.

China Glaze Grass is Lime Greener topped with Urban Outfitters Yellow. The UO is a satin neon yellow glitter, a highlighter shade, not the warm, sunny color that's appearing in the photo. The effect in person was subtler, like scales on a reptile. Grass is Lime Greener appeared more of a neon spring green, slightly pistachio, before applying glitter and top coat. The neon glitter made it a look a little more lime. It's very bright! I'm looking at the bottle of it right now next to China Glaze Be More Pacific; they look nearly identical in this night time, indoor lighting, but they are NOT in reality. If I remember correctly, GiLG is more spring green, and BMP is more Shrek.

The formula for the UO glitter was very, very easy and smooth. Grass is Lime Greener took three coats, and more easily goes sloppy along the edges.

China Glaze Highlight of My Summer with Nicole By OPI Pitch Black Glimmer. Highlight of My Summer is a neon mint that I'd been craving since last summer. It sold out in Ulta right away! I think I used two coats. It was no problem at all. Of course it made me think of mint chocolate chip, so my beloved black (and silver) glitter was added. I wore Highlight of My Summer for a while as a pedicure, and it was pretty damn bright.

I heard someone online compare it with American Apparel Parakeet (which I just bought! still untried); Parakeet is much darker and more... tropical.

I believe this is a comparison with Be More Pacific. Nope, not alike.

Essie Splash of Grenadine is a myrtle purple-pink! It is the exact same color. The very first time I tried Splash of Grenadine, I wasn't a fan, but this time I really liked it. I chose it specifically because the flowers were in bloom. It may have used 3 coats, but the formula was easy. The first time I used it, I don't think I found it so easy.

Zoya Destiny, coral glitter texture. Classic!

I've seen comments wondering if it was too similar to Zoya Dhara. Nope! (Dhara is also a new purchase, untried. So pumpkin spice!)

Old China Glaze Flip-Flop Fantasy versus the new. The new is obviously much more peach, and less intensely bright. It's also much easier to apply.

On that note, if you want the old FFF, I highly recommend China Glaze Thistle Be the Day. It's more pink, but very, very similar. It's extremely bright, though not as "dear god, my eyes!" as FFF.

China Glaze Wrinkle the Sheets swatch, from the Crinkled Chromes collection

My poor fingers!

China Glaze Wrinkle the Sheets with Zoya Raven accent and Sally Hansen I Heart Nail Art black striper

Haterz gonna hate, but the crinkled chromes are pretty badass. This one right here looks like crinkled foil, not like dirt or air bubbles got in your polish. The trick is loading your nail up with glitter. You want a lot of glitter, especially the bars, for maximum crinkle-potential. I used one coat, but multiple strokes over the individual spots. The color of Wrinkle the Sheets is also an awesome shade of light green, and that combined with the texture reminds me of the ~click here for more pale~/"pastel" side of Tumblr.

My right hand was already chippy after one day of work. Some of the bar glitter popped out as well. My left hand was fine... until I tried to unbutton a very difficult cardigan in a Gap outlet store changing room. One of those buttons flat out CHIPPED a nail of Raven. Bastards!

Next time I'm going to try out Wrinkle the Sheets with two coats and top coat. I hope is stays wrinkly and doesn't just look like lumpy sludge.

OPI Alcatraz... Rocks swatch and my inaugural post!

After many years of furtive searching, I have finally found my camera, and it's time to start a nail blog! Here's OPI Alcatraz... Rocks, which has apparently built up quite a bit of tip wear after 3 days.

I've always worn a base coat with the new textures of the past year, then read recently about the Zoya PixieDusts that it's best not to wear a base coat because it'll slow the dry-time, and that they wear like iron anyway. So I tried this OPI on without it, then read the little label instructing you to use base coat. Well! It was too late by then. I don't know if the tip wear comes from the lack of base coat, or if that's just the nature of the polish. Ironically OPI rarely gets tip wear on me, while Zoyas frequently do, but it's been vice versa with the texture polishes.

Anyway, the color is like a washed out indigo resembling denim, with pink and gold sparkle. Sometimes I think it's really cool, and sometimes it just looks okay. Immediately after watching "Gravity", I thought it resembled the night sky. Based on how it looks when wet, it'd probably be gorgeous with topcoat.