Orly Infamous collection: Makeup to Breakup

purchased by me

Makeup to Breakup is a gorgeous teal crème with a perfect one-coat formula that dries quickly and very shiny.  Those with longer nails may need two coats.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 17, Glitter

purchased by me

My glitter nails turned out to be less glitter and more crème, but I like the way the glitter pops in contrast.  My base is Orly Makeup to Breakup, a dark teal crème, and the glitter is Gossip Girl, a clear base with various sizes of coppery gold glitter.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 12, Stripes

purchased by me

I'm fairly pleased with the straightness of my freehanded stripes, but I wish I'd chosen colors with a higher contrast.  The polishes I used were Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Technopagan and Man by Man.

Zoya Island Fun collection

press sample

Today I have Zoya's gorgeous collection of summer crèmes for you.  It's called Island Fun, and it definitely has a fun summer vibe!  Pictures and reviews after the jump.

Walgreens Frozen collection: Ice-solated and Kristoff He Goes

purchased by me

Given that there is a foot of snow in my yard and that the temps have hovered around -6º to -10º F for the last month, you might think I'd be over winter.  And I am.  But I am not over the latest Disney and Walgreens collaboration!  For a ton of details and pictures, head over to Nouveau Cheap.  For swatches of two of the polishes, just scroll down.

Ice-solated and Kristoff He Goes were my first encounters with the Color Blast line, and I managed to pick two colors that hit the total best and total worst ends of the spectrum!

To spare you further suspense, Ice-solated was terrible.  For $6.99 + tax, I expect better from Orly than a formula which takes FOUR coats to become opaque and then remains dentable for more than 40 minutes.  Ice-solated is a super pretty color, a light turquoise with blue shimmer, which just adds to the insult.  I bought this on Saturday morning and returned it at noon on Sunday.

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On the other hand, Kristoff He Goes was glorious.  A deep teal crème, the formula was perfect--opaque in one coat, perfect viscosity, went exactly where I told it to go and dried swiftly and shinily.  One caveat--Kristoff does stain, so double up on the basecoat!

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Indoors without flash:

I will probably try more Orly Color Blast polishes, because I really, really like Kristoff He Goes, but if you're in Walgreens and looking at the Frozen collaboration, save yourself seven bucks and keep going past Ice-solated!

Orly Smoky collection: Smoked Out

purchased by me

Smoked Out was my final choice from the Smoky collection, and it was definitely worth saving for last!  In the bottle, Smoked Out looks like emerald green glassfleck glitter in a black base, but on the nail it's a phenomenal deep teal.  It's opaque in two coats and dries satin matte, so my swatches have two coats of polish and one coat of top coat.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

In the sun:

Smoked Out is available at various e-tailers, including Head2Toe Beauty, where I got mine for $6.25 each + shipping.

I Love Nail Polish: Rehab

purchased by me

I caved and bought three beautiful I Love Nail Polish holos, so now I have to show them to you!  First up is Rehab, a deep teal beauty which leans more on the green side of teal than the blue.  The formula was perfect, opaque in two coats, self-leveling, and just the right viscosity to stay where I put it without being too thick!  It chipped in a day, but since I've had that problem with Every. Single. Holo. I've ever purchased, I'm not blaming Rehab, I'm just wearing all my holos with top coat from now on.  Shown is two coats, no top coat.

Rehab and the rest of the I Love Nail Polish Summer 2014 collection can be purchased at the ILNP website for $10 each + shipping.

Funky Fingers* Teal Scales

This little gem was a gift from my beautiful and talented friend girlygirl, who is currently experiencing la dolce vita in Italia.  Hopefully she's finding some time to buy Italian nail polish while she's there. ;)  Teal Scales is a glitter crackle polish, which is a true teal on the nails although it looks blackened in the bottle.  It was very unfussy, flowed right off the brush and cracked beautifully with no trouble on my part.  This manicure is one coat of Teal Scales over Savvy Chrome.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

I know a lot of folks are over crackles, but I still love them, and this one is a lovely addition to my stash.  Funky Fingers* polishes are available at FiveBelow, Target, Walmart and Ebay, just to name a few places.

Thanks, GG, I love it!

*Funky Fingers gives me a flashback to my high school years, when the cool song was "Funky Poodle" by a local band called Wild Horses (who are still playing in the Cleveland area!).