China Glaze Pelican Grey

More neutral non glittery polish today :) I chose China Glaze Pelican Grey also from the Anchors Away collection. Pelican Grey is a medium grey (shock!) with a subtle shimmer.

I used one coat of Sally Hansen Triple Strong bofr my base and then two coats of Pelican Grey. No problems with application. I topped it off with a coat of Revlon Colorstay top coat. I have to point out that this polish dries darker than the bottle and when you first apply. Also once it's dry the gorgeous silver shimmer mostly disappears.

Picures, pictures, pictures! None in direct light unfortunately :( I swear my timing is terrible!

China Glaze Pelican Grey in Artificial Light

China Glaze Pelican Grey in Artificial Light

China Glaze Pelican Grey in Shade

I really wish I had some daylight shots because I want to show the gorgeous silver shimmer in this. You can faintly see the shimmer at my tips in the photos above. I don't usually wear grey shades but I really like this colour. Overall I prefer the grey/blue shades like Sea Spray which I was wearing previously.


Blargh

China Glaze Sea Spray

I was in the mood for some more demure shades so I searched through my stash and came up with China Glaze Sea Spray! Sea Spray is from the China Glaze Anchor's Away collection and is a gorgeous blue grey polish.

One coat of Sally Hansen Triple Strength base coat and two coats of Sea Spray. Application was flawless and very smooth. I finished with one coat of Revlon Colorstay top coat.

Some pictures!

China Glaze Sea Spray in Artificial Light

China Glaze Sea Spray in Shade

China Glaze Sea Spray in Natural Light

Love, love, love this! Oh so much! I actually didn't want to take this off! I've shortened my nails a bit more and I think it looks gorgeous on this shorter length. My only complaint is that when the polish is wet there is this gorgeous blue silver shimmer all throughout it but once dried it almost completely disappears :( Definitely can't wait to try this one again!


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OPI Princesses Rule

I was in the mood for something delicate after all those glitter bomb manis lately so I chose OPI Princess Charming. It is a delicate sheer pink shimmer from the OPI Princess Charming collection.

My usual Sally Hansen Triple Strong base coat and then I used two coats of Princess Rule. I probably could've gone with a third but I was happy with how two looked. Lastly I applied a coat of Revlon Colorstay top coat.

Now some pretty photos. I'm afraid I only have a few and only in artificial light :(

OPI Princesses Rule in Artificial Light

OPI Princesses Rule in Artificial Light

I love how soft and delicate this looks. I find this shade great as a palette cleanser but still has a gorgeous bit of sparkle to it. I don't often wear girly shades but I really like this!

Essie Super Bossa Nova

The other mini polish in the Essie set was also screaming my name so I had to put it on :) Also from the Essie Braziliant collection is Super Bossa Nova!

I did my usual one coat of Sally Hansen Triple Strong as a base coat. I then followed this with two coats of Super Bossa Nova. You could probably get away with only using one coat because it is very opaque but I have a habit of always using two coats. I finished my mani off with a coat of Revlon Colorstay top coat.

I was having a bit of trouble photographing this one too because it is really bright!

Essie Super Bossa Nova in Artificial Light

Essie Super Bossa Nova in Artificial Light

 And still not bright enough :(

Essie Super Bossa Nova in Natural Light

Essie Super Bossa Nova in the Shade with flash

 Ooh you can see a bit of that gorgeous shimmer I was talking about!

Essie Super Bossa Nova in the Shade

Love, love, love! Yet another shade that screams summer which I desperately need in this dreary freezing cold weather. Super Bossa Nova is a stunningly bright pink with a gorgeous subtle magenta shimmer. This shimmer also hides like that of Braziliant :( This is really beautiful! Again if you get this in the right light and that shimmer comes to play its amazing!

Essie Braziliant

I couldn't wait to try the new Essie poishes that I picked up and Braziliant was calling my name! Braziliant is a gorgeous bright orange polish.


I applied a base coat of Sally Hansen Triple Strong and then two coats of Essie Braziliant. Braziliant was a breeze to apply, perfect smooth formula. I finished off with a coat of Revlon Colorstay Top Coat.

I did the best I could with the pictures but between the bright colour and intermitant sunlight it was a bit of a pain.

See this is what all my pictures kept looking like :(

Essie Braziliant in Artificial Light

But finally I got this one yay ):

Essie Braziliant in Artificial Light

Essie Braziliant in Natural Light

Essie Braziliant in the Shade

I love this colour! It's crazy bright, not quite a neon in my opinion but it certainly screams summer. Braziliant has a beautiful coral orange shimmer that is mostly hidden but when it comes out to play - WOW! Definitely can't wait to wear this again when we have lots of actual sunlight :)

Ulta3 Cocoa

I was changing my nail colour and wanted to match it to a gorgeous dress I was wearing. So that's how I came to choose Ulta3 Cocoa from the Metallic Crush collection. I've shown you swatches of this colour and I loved the gorgeous metallic brown then and I love it now!

I applied a base coat of Revlon Calcium Gel Nail Hardener. This base coat disagrees with several of my polishes and Cocoa was no exception >.< I applied two coats because the first coat did the same 'balding' that I've experienced with other polishes using this base coat. I find Cocoa easy to apply just keep the brush straight! I know that others don't like this collection because they find them too frosty, showing all the brush strokes, but I love them! I finished it off with a coat of Sally Hansen Mega Shine top coat.

So onto the pretty pictures!

Ulta3 Cocoa in Artificial Light

Ulta3 Cocoa in Artificial Light

 Then the following morning I took these.

Ulta3 Cocoa in Natural Light

Ulta3 Cocoa in the Shade

Cocoa is such a gorgeous reddish brown metallic! This colour matched my dress perfectly. The thing I loved most was how quickly it dried between layers since it was rather late at night when I finally got around to painting my nails!

Orly Galaxy Girl (Pic Heavy!!)

I haven't yet tried Orly nail polish so I figured now was as good a time as any :) With that in mind I grabbed Orly Galaxy Girl from the Cosmic FX collection. Galaxy Girl is a gorgeous duochrome that shifts from a burgundy/mahogany colours to a rich teal blue. the colour is primarily a deep rich burgundy that has a teal blue shimmer. In certain lights thought it becomes a duochrome and it shifts to the teal blue colour.

I applied a coat of Revlon Calcium Gel Nail Hardener followed by three coats of Galaxy Girl. Galaxy Girl is very thin and I found it a bit difficult to work with since it was watery. It wasn't possible to use thick coats since the formula was so watery so I used three very thin coats. Since this was my first time using Orly I found the brush took some getting use to and it was also more difficult because it was watery.

These photo's were taken in artificial light that night.

Orly Galaxy Girl in Artificial Light

Orly Galaxy Girl in Artificial Light

Orly Galaxy Girl in Artificial Light

 Galaxy Girl shifts between the reddish burgundy above and a teal blue that I couldn't photograph .

Orly Galaxy Girl in Artificial Light

 The tips of my fingers kin of show the teal blue that it shifts to .

Orly Galaxy Girl in Artificial Light

The following morning I took these photo's in natural light.

Orly Galaxy Girl in Natural Light

Orly Galaxy Girl in Natural Light

Orly Galaxy Girl in Natural Light

Look at that gorgeous burgundy shiny goodness!

Orly Galaxy Girl in Natural Light

Orly Galaxy Girl in Natural Light

I did the best to capture the duochrome shift to the teal blue :(

Orly Galaxy Girl in Natural Light

The majority of the time Galaxy Girl was the mahogany/burgundy colour with a teal blue shimmer which was easy to capture. However, the colour would shift to this amazing teal blue that wouldn't be captured >.<. When I first put this on I wasn't a fan, the dark burgundy colour just didn't suit me but the gorgeous blue shimmer and duochrome saved this nail polish for me.

Modelista On Location - Berlin

I know that I'm showing you yet another black nail polish but I bought this from Target for super cheap and have been dying to try it on. Modelista On Location - Berlin is a black creme with a subtle blue/silver shimmer.

I applied Revlon Quick Dry base coat followed by one coat of On Location - Berlin. The polish was extremely saturated and one coat was more than enough for full coverage. I also found it applied very easily and the brush allowed me to control the nail polish. My favourite Seche Vite Quick Dry top coat and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri drops, since it was late at night, and I was good to go.

The following photo's I took late at night after I has finished my manicure.

Modelista On Location - Berlin in Artificial Light

 

Modelista On Location - Berlin in Artificial Light

The following day I took these photo's in the sunshine. Unfortunately it was overcast for most of the day so every time I saw a glimmer of sunshine I would go running out like a crazy woman with my camera hoping to get my pictures while there was a gap in the clouds. I found it difficult to try and get the blue/silver shimmer  in this nail polish unless the sun was shining directly onto the nails and then everything looked blurry. So I picked the best photo's I could.

Modelista On Location - Berlin in Natural Light

Modelista On Location - Berlin in Natural Light

 

Although I like this nail polish I originally bought it because I was expecting the blue/silver shimmer to be more prominent - which it isn't! In normal light it just looks like a black creme with a vinyl looking finish because of the silver particles in the nail polish. However when the light hits the nail polish in just the right way the blue/silver shimmer really comes to life, making it the colour I was hoping it would be. Overall I'm happy with this nail polish since I got it so cheap but if I had paid more for it I really would have wanted it to have the shimmer I was hoping for.

Revlon Iced Mauve

I realised I hadn't shown you Revlon Iced Mauve on it's own in the sunlight before I used it for my pastel water marbling. So I used Revlon Quick Dry base coat and then two thin layers of Revlon Iced Mauve. If you use a thicker coat it is opaque in just one layer. The formula isn't as bad as most Revlon nail polishes, this one is easy to control and not crazy watery. To finish it off I applied a coat of Sally Hansen Mega Shine top coat.

I took these photo's in artificial light once I applied my top coat.

 Revlon Iced Mauve in Artificial Light

Revlon Iced Mauve in Artificial Light

Then these were taken in natural light, outside in the lovely sunshine. You can see where I clumsily managed to knock my nails - oops!

 Revlon Iced Mauve in Natural Light

Revlon Iced Mauve in Natural Light

Iced Mauve is a gorgeous purple pink colour, a light mauve. It has a subtle shimmer to it that you can see in the photo's. It has a longer dry time than other nail polishes but most of the Revlon polishes I use take quite awhile to dry. This is a beautiful colour and easy to grab if you're in a hurry since it's opaque with one thick coat. Just remember to let it dry without knocking it - unlike like me!