Holy Freakin' Unreal Emberstone!!

Be prepared to be bombarded by photos. No joke, I have like legit 8 pictures. I took these a while ago and this is quite a late post. I've been trying to cut down on the number of photos, but since I had already cropped and tagged all of these, I figured I'd just include them.



















2 coats Orly Emberstone
1 coat Poshe

Emberstone... is amazing. I'm a HUGE fan of the Mineral FX collection, as I posted Stone Cold back in December. Emberstone is beautiful. It has almost a coral type of feel. This polish is definitely easily worn in the summertime, I thought it was going to be more of a cold red. Some photos show it as a cherry red, but there are a couple that show the orange-y coral feel, and you definitely see that quite a bit in real life. It also has this hot pink feel to it. I definitely see hot pink flakes in this polish, just a little less frequent than the orange. This isn't really a glitter, they're more particles of shimmer than anything IMO. It's a little different than Stone Cold in that the particles aren't as separate. They're much more fluent with the base of the polish where as they stood out far more in Stone Cold. This does not make the polish any less amazing. I still stand by what I said with Stone Cold and that is words and photos cannot describe this polish.

Seriously, you have to wear these polishes. When you wear them, they're so much more lively that photos show, than they look in the bottle, or even how they look as swatches in the store. Don't underestimate these. They're not a regular shimmer.

The formula was totally fine. It glided on great, not too thick. Polish went and stayed where I put it. Amazing to work with, great coverage. Beautiful all around.

Gwen Stefani Luxurious Video Nails

So I totally love Gwen Stefani. If I had the money to maintain my hair the way she does, I'd be THAT blonde. I just love her all around. She's adorable. I loved her in No Doubt, love her on her own. Just love her. So if you watch her Luxurious music video, you'll see at the beginning she is getting acrylics and her nails painted. They do a whole little thing all about it with a shot of the polish dripping into the bottle, zooming in on her nails getting painted, etc. It's pretty cute. So I decided I wanted to do my nails just like hers... minus the acrylics of course! So I'm assuming the polish is Essie just by watching shots of it in the video. The video was released in 2005, so it had to be a polish that was out at that time. I concluded there's a good chance it's Wicked. So that's what I went with!









2 coats Essie Wicked
1 coat Poshe
Dotting with dotting tool and China Glaze White on White
Shoulda done a top coat but didn't :(

So here are some shots from the video:














So, I actually LOVE her accent nails. She has a 5 dots in a circle, and two circles on each nail. The nails she has done are both of her pinkies and her left ring finger. All nails have two circles, but I couldn't fit two circles on my pinkies, so they had just one. If I had super long nails or acrylics, I totally would have done them EXACTLY like hers.
I loved that this video had a good chunk of time focusing on her nails. I would also love to do more music video inspired nails, so if you have a music video that you LOVE the persons nails in, comment and I'll try to figure out a way to match it!

And you know you wanna watch the video...

Essie Wicked... I think?

Ocean State Job Lot is a store in New England that is just like a small discount store with a... dingy kind of feel? Don't picture TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Ross, or something like that. It's like a little less nice than Big Lots. There's no dressing room but they sell some clothes. They literally sell everything. Cosmetics, books, food, clothes, kitchen stuff, bathroom stuff, toys, everything. But anyway, they're constantly getting new, random stuff. This is where I get polishes from collections that have just been discontinued. For example, Revlon Carbonite was here, Wet N Wild Bloom polishes, and they sell Chi polishes as well as OLD Maybelline polishes. I don't know, a ton of random stuff.

Anyway, wandered myself in and found a whole box of Essie polishes for $3!! Oddly enough, 90% of the bottles were labeled "Clambake", and I don't think any of the polishes were actually Clambake. The rest were labeled "Geranium" and "Downtown Brown" (which I think was legit). Some where salon bottles, some were retail bottles, some were in between. So I picked some colors I like and ultimately determined this one was probably Wicked.











2 coats Essie Wicked
1 coat Poshe

Wicked is a gorgeous deep dark blood, maroon-y red creme. Not so dark that it looks black. It's a pretty sexy red, actually.

The formula was great thankfully, as I tend to have bad luck with Essie's formula. This polish is SUPER glossy without top coat I also didn't want to put one on! I did not have problems with cuticle flooding. It's on the thinner side, but a good thinner. Very happy with it.

Orly Poison Apple - The Best Red EVER??

I'm continuing on with Orly's Once Upon A Time collection that I intended to have finished in November, but that clearly did not happen. So here we are in December, but now is a pretty good time to be wearing reds, so I figure it worked out!!

These first photos were taken in artificial light*








These photos were taken in natural light*












1 coat Orly Poison Apple
1 coat Poshe

*I have two "sets" of photos because the second ones make the polish look very blue-based. I wanted the first "set" so you could see that it's not as blue-based as it appears. And so my description doesn't make me sound like a nut. Lol. Oh, and the indoor/artificial light photos were taken today (after 2 days wearing the polish).

This is a subtly rusty red creme, not your typical bright, blue-based red, so it's not super in-your-face and aggressive. For that reason, it also leans warm, though I think it'd be INCREDIBLY flattering on any skintone. It appears blue-based in some photos, but it's almost got a tomato-y quality. Like I said, subtly rusty, almost with a hint of vintage red. I really do think it's the perfect red for any skintone. Seriously.

I have very high expectations for reds. You figure there are SO many reds out there, there's no excuse for a red to be too thick, too thin, require too many coats, be streaky, etc. Application needs to be nearly flawless and Orly didn't disappoint!! This polish flowed beautifully, only requiring one coat for full opacity. I'm a big fan of Orly's brush, and I think the amazing formula paired with their awesome brush made application that much easier. There is NO clean-up in these photos. The polish went on where I put it, did not flood my cuticles, and just glided on to shape to my cuticles perfectly. An amazing formula to match possibly the most amazing, universally flattering red EVER!! Own this. Seriously.

Revlon Top Speed Jelly... Not Really A Jelly

Keepin' this short because I wanna focus on describing this polish. I was under the impression that Jelly was a jelly. Well, I don't really know, but it's interesting.

Direct Sunlight




Shade





And here's it with Hidden Treasure


1 coat (yes, ONE) Revlon Jelly
1 coat Poshe
(Last photo has 1 coat Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure)

I usually never put direct sunlight photos first, but they were (IMO) def the most gorgeous. Color-wise, it's a bright red based pink that can appear to be red on the nails, though in the bottle it's clearly pink.

More importantly, let's discuss the finish and whatnot. So. Is it a jelly? I'd say maybe? but I don't think so. What makes me say maybe is that it does have a "squishy" quality, but it's more shiny than squishy (even without a top coat). It's not an obvious creme. But at the same time, it's just not that interesting. It doesn't have that opacity shift that jellies have that make it look almost glassy. Does that make sense? It doesn't have depth the way a true jelly does. I think that's partly because it takes only ONE freakin' coat and it's perfect.

So let's talk about formula, because it's so odd. It reminds me of a thick creme polish that was thinned. But not thick as in it was getting dried out because its old, thick like the formula was just bad but thinner made it "puffy". The consistency was puffy. I think that's what takes away from it being a jelly. Anyway, the brush seemed to collect SO much polish. That made it super prone to easily flooding your cuticle. If you're not good at doing a gap, stay the heck away from this. You'll frustrate yourself to no end because your cuticles will be so full of polish. I actually had to redo a nail. It's been like a year since I've actually had to redo a nail due to flooding... and it was on my LEFT hand!!!!! I was painting with my dominant hand!!

However, back to the one coat thing. Legit, there is absolutely no reason to do a second coat. It was so evenly pigmented, there was no streaking (you couldn't make this polish streak if you tried), it was amazing.

The other thing that frustrated me was the brush. If you have straighter, not so curved cuticles (my cuticles are fairly rounded), the brush will work fine. But for me, trying to get a nice swoop at my cuticle was not easy. The brush wanted to keep it completely straight. And because of the high risk of cuticle flooding, it was difficult to try to get it even near my cuticle without drowning it.

Ultimately...
1. The TRUE one coat factor was nice.
2. I was expecting more of a jelly, and it was disappointing to not have that.
3. I wish it looked more pink than red (because I really don't like red nails on myself).
4. The cuticle flooding was a PITA.

Love & Beauty Coral

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but in case I haven't, I LOVE Forever 21 polishes. If you see a color you like, do not hesitate to pick it up. They cost $2.80 and I haven't been disappointed yet! And they have a good range of finishes, not just simple cremes like many stores do. Love & Beauty if the name of their cosmetics line, but I tend to use Forever 21 and Love & Beauty interchangeably when I talk about their polish.

Looking on their website at their polish, it looks like they have interesting names such as "Fun Fuchsia", "Feminine Wiles", "Liquid Silver", and "Clear Skies". However, when I'm in the store, their polishes don't have those names at all. My small collection of Forever 21 polishes consists of names such as "Pink", "Nude", "Taupe", and "Light Green". And that's how I see them labeled in the store. I had also noticed that in the store, there was more than one polish called "Pink" for example, but they were certainly not the same polish. I don't know if the interesting names are just for online purposes and they're the same as the ones in the store or what. Regardless, it's odd. But anyway, here's "Coral".













Close Up


2 coats Coral
1 coat Poshe

Not a color I tend to gravitate to generally, but it's really gorgeous. By the name, it obviously suggests that it's coral, but it's definitely a red coral. The other thing that I love is the very fine gold shimmer. It gives the polish a nice dimension that greatly compliments the overall look and adds a warmth to the polish while still maintaining that it's definitely a summer color. It's clearly not just a creme. The shimmer is more noticeable in the bottle, and because of the orange-ness of the color, the polish certainly does not look gold on the nail. It's just beautiful. And I don't tend to wear reds. Granted I wouldn't call this strictly red, but it definitely leans that way. I do love coral, though.

The formula was great. Opaque in 2 coats, not streaky or uneven at all. The polish consistency was on the thin side, but thin like old OPI before the formula change, not thin like watery and unworkable. So this makes for a very easy to work with polish. The brush average size and is rounded and very dense with clear bristles. It could be a little more flat in my opinion, but it doesn't do that stupid flare thing at the tip like some round brushes do. I think it's because the brush is so dense.

Ardene Red Sapphire and Guest Nails!!

If you've look through my blog, you've probably noticed I don't frequently wear typical nail polish colors. One color I very seldom wear is red. I'll wear pinks, sheers, nudes, anything before red. I just am not the biggest fan of red. When I do wear it, however, it's usually for a specific reason, not just because I felt like wearing red that day.

So what's my reason for choosing red today? To match my nails with someone else's nails... Keep reading to see whose!!











And my special guest...





This, is my amazing dog Paisley. She's a 16 month old Jack Russell Terrier that I am ridiculously in love with!! She had to get her nails clipped today, so why not have them painted, too!? This is her first manicure, because I don't have dog polish and I'm afraid to use regular polish on her nails. This is courtesy of out local Petco :)

2 coats Red Sapphire
1 coat Poshe

Ardene is a Canadian brand that sells clothing, accessories, and some cosmetics. I've actually never been there. My boyfriend went to Canada for a bachelor party. Apparently at some point, he managed to stumble himself into a store and bought me 6 Ardene polishes. Lol, he's too funny.

This is actually a very nice quality polish. The brush is great with a nice spread and no random bristles sticking out. It's opaque in 2 coats, and interestingly, the first coat made it seem like it had a jelly-ish quality. Even with the 2 coats, it still has that jelly look, definitely not just a stark creme. It went on very smoothly, no drag or streaks. If you're from Canada and come across this polish, I definitely suggest picking it up if you like one of the colors!

All Rose Lead to Rome Matte with Konad

I loved wearing ARLTR on it's own, but I had envisioned this concept when I knew I would be wearing ARLTR for two days. I had intended to use a different Konad design (it was actually an Essence plate), but unfortunately after 3 attempts to pick up the image, there was the same corner missing on a flower. I wanted the border look, so I had a Konad plate stored with the Essence plate, and just went ahead with this new design. Here it is:













And a close up of the design


2 coats All Rose Lead to Rome
1 coat Poshe (from the previous day)
2 coats Essie Matte About You
Konad Plate m36 with white Konad polish