Nail Polish Stash: Part Seven

Click here for the rest of the series.

Taken from Part One: I recently decided to reorganize my polish, since I no longer know how many I own, what colors I own, etc. So, in a way, this series of posts is to help keep me organized. But it's also for you all! If you see anything in these posts that you want to see more of, let me know, and I'll swatch it for you. :] (EDIT: Some photos are clickable, some aren't. I'm not really sure why this is happening, and I've tried to fix it, but nothing seems to work. Sorry!)

Dark Blue

Note: This picture is horrible. I really, sincerely apologize. I did my best to color-correct it, though, so the polishes should be accurate, for the most part.

Essie Aruba Blue, Sonia Kashuk Space Cadet, Nina Ultra Pro Sailor, Sephora Brand Blue Sapphire, MAC Blue India, Finger Paints Cobalt Cardigan, Zoya Kotori, Revlon Midnight Affair, Covergirl Midnight Magic

Medium Blue

Color Club Pure Energy, OPI Sea, I Told You!, NYC East Village, China Glaze Frostbite, OPI Absolutely Alice

Light Blue

OPI Give Me the Moon!, Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau, No Miss Boynton Beach Blue, China Glaze For Audrey, Zoya Yummy, China Glaze Rainstorm

The Ones I Accidentally Forgot

Oops! I left these out when I was taking pictures, and I really, reeeeally didn't want to go back and retake pictures, ha. So they get a separate picture!

Charlotte Russe unnamed magenta, Milani Garnet Gems, Orly Tiara

And that's everything! So, what's my grand total, you ask? 215 polishes! Whoa. That's quite a bit, eh? I honestly thought it'd be much more than that, though, but I guess I forgot to take into consideration the fact that I recently gave away/got rid of at least 20 polishes.

Anyway! Again, if you saw something you liked and want to see a better image of it, just let me know and I'll swatch it for you.

MAC Blue India.

Oh, man. It's been forever since I've done a real post, eh? Sorry about that! School got crazy these past few months, but I'm DONE now. For the semester, at least. I start back up in August.

Anyway, I've got nine polishes to show you, plus a bunch of product reviews, and even a few nail wheels. I'm probably going to spread all of this out over quite a bit of time, but also include some newer manis and whatnot, too. I need to keep a good amount of posts on hand for June, because I'm going to Minnesota and Texas in June for two weeks and won't really have time to blog.

Onto Blue India! Okay, so. I originally wasn't going to buy this polish. It didn't wow me when I first saw it. I mean, sure, the packaging was cute, but did I really love the color? Well. Once I started seeing all the swatches, I knew I had to have it. I ordered it late one night, about a month or so ago. So, so happy I did. It's gorgeous! A beautiful dusty blue with gray undertones. On one blog I read (I can't remember which one, so if it's you, sorry!), the reviewer described it as nautical. And that's exactly what it is. Despite its dark color, it's an excellent nautical, beachy summer color. If you didn't pick this one up, I hate to say it, but you definitely missed out.

Also, application was fantastic. I did three coats, though I could have definitely gotten away with two. It was smooth and the perfect consistency. I wish my swatches did it justice. Honestly, they're atrocious. I was in a hurry, and it was late at night, and they're just bad. Also I had been house-sitting all weekend for a house with four dogs, two cats, and two ferrets. So that's all obviously not good for a manicure, haha.

On another note, have you ordered your bottle of OPI Damone Roberts 1968 yet? From what I hear, this is another can't-miss color. Here's the number to call to order: 310-271-2100. You can also get it in Damone Roberts salons, if you live near one.

Review: Sinful Colors Mint Apple.

I'm just going to say it right now: I love this polish. I absolutely love it! It's a gorgeous minty blue with subtle silver shimmer. Application was a dream. I want to say this was three coats, though I probably could have gotten away with two. I originally was not going to wear this last week, but ended up putting it on after my Rimmel Violet Metal started chipping like crazy on the second day wearing it. I was not happy about that. Wear with Mint Apple was pretty decent. I think I got about four days out of it, but at that point there was only a little tipwear. Honestly, I was just ready for a change, haha.

Oy. Excuse the lobster hands. It's the lighting, I swear!

Everyone is always comparing this polish to Essie's Mint Candy Apple, obviously because the names are so similar. Honestly? I prefer this one. I know they're two completely different colors, but this one just draws me in more. It's just more interesting, to me at least. And it's definitely cheaper, ha. And I also believe that this is part of Sinful's main line now, so it's also much more easily accessible. Don't get me wrong! Essie's Mint Candy Apple is super pretty. And it's a great winter color. I just didn't dig the formula. With Sinful's Mint Apple, the application was amazing.

So, what do you think? Have you had a chance to try this polish out yet? Are you even down with the whole mint trend that's been going on for the past few months?

Double Review: Orly Prim and Proper and OPI Absolutely Alice

First up, Prim and Proper.

This polish..oh, this polish. I wanted to like it. I really, really did. But it just looked weird with my skintone, and it was brushstrokey, and it just was weird overall. I put it on because I was really in the need for something girly and feminine. I think this was almost too feminine, haha. It's a light, light, light metallic lavender frost. The formula was pretty good, and it dried well, but it's just too..something. Not my style.

I don't know. I guess I'm just not really into this finish of polish. It was pretty, sure. Just..not for me. (By the way, the pictures are color-accurate.)

Next, Absolutely Alice.

Sadly, I only have one picture for you. This polish is so gorgeous, but I had so many problems with it. First of all, the formula was gloopy. I expect that with glitter polishes but this one was overly gloopy. Dry time was amazing, though I had to use three coats for full coverage. I needed this polish to last for a week, since I wanted to wear it for the Alice in Wonderland midnight premiere. Now, I'm not stupid. I knew I'd have to touch it up a little bit before going to the premiere. But this polish.. It peeled off in huge chips on the second day. By the fourth day, it was even worse. I had to touch it up so many times, sometimes having to completely redo some nails. I ended up just chipping it all off on Friday morning. It's frustrating, because it's so pretty. My picture really does not do it justice.

It's a gorgeous cobalt blue glitter with gold glitter dispersed throughout. First of all, I'm sorry about the state of my cuticles. Second, I'm sorry about the fact that I'm only showing three nails. I had already started chipping if off by this point. Third, I'm sorry for the raggedy edges on my nails. In addition to the polish chipping off, my nails also started breaking like crazy. It was just not a good week, haha. So, overall, love the color, hate the formula. But it's a glitter. What can you do?

Review: Essie Aruba Blue, and more haul pictures.

I have been searching for this color EVERYWHERE. And I finally found it at the Ulta in Panama City Beach. It's an amazing darker-end-of-bright-blue blue, and is packed full of shimmery goodness. It's just so warm and summery. I love it. At first I was a bit worried it would be too close to China Glaze Frostbite, and though they are both blue shimmers, the comparison stops there. Frostbite is much colder and wintry. Application on Aruba Blue was amazing. I think it was two coats to opaque..I can't quite remember! When it did start chipping, though, it chipped like crazy. Alas. This didn't happen until day four, though, so that's awesome.

As far as the haul goes..it was a Valentine's gift from my mom! She got me the Sephora Give Me Some Lip set, and Sephora for OPI High Maintenance (Well, actually, I kind of threw this in the virtual basket at the last minute, heheh). I love this set so much. To be quite honest, I'm not typically a lipgloss type of girl, but these are gorgeous. And with the polish..I realized after I purchased it that it might be really similar to one of my many other reds, but it's not! I've been desperately searching for a great red-orange lately, and I think this is it. It has major orange undertones, and will be a great summer pedicure color.

(EDIT: Uhh..I don't know where these pictures went. They're not on my computer, they're not in this post. Um. Oops?)

Triple review, oh my.

I'm still attempting to catch up on all the posts I promised. I've still got..four? polish reviews left, and one product review. It'll be nice to be all caught up!

First up: Nina Ultra Pro Sailor

This polish..The color is beautiful. Application was great. Wear, however, was not. It started chipping almost right away, and didn't stop until I finally took it off (on the third day). I think the topcoat is to blame in this case, though. I was running low on Poshe, so I was trying to use it sparingly, and then, stupid me, put a polish lid on the Poshe bottle. A yellow polish lid. So, as you can imagine, that was disastrous. There was yellow in my topcoat! It was horrible. So I had to revert back to Seche Vite, which I barely had any of. It just..it was a disaster. That's also why these nails look all scratched and dull and, well, crappy. Let this be a lesson for you all! Always have a good bottle of topcoat on hand! Topcoats work wonders. This polish is also insanely difficult to photograph. None of the pictures were turning out color-accurate! The second one is probably the closest, though. I think. It's just this great true navy that's navy in every light.

Second: Orly Iron Butterfly

I did this polish at night, at about 10:00 PM. I needed something that would dry quickly, since I was exhausted from a long day at the university. I like this color. It had a nice edge to it, while still being pretty. I wasn't blown away by it, though. Application was good, this was, I think, two coats. It was pretty much opaque in one coat, though. Wear time, as with most mattes, was not so great. I think it lasted a little over a day. Anyway, onto the pictures. This first picture is pre-cleanup, two coats, no topcoat. Since my nails look so horribly messy, I decided to use my bottle of Le Petit Prince EDT, to add a little bit of cute into the picture and to detract from my messy nails, haha. I ended up adding a topcoat (Iron Butterfly with topcoat is the second picture), though, because I was going to a facial the next day and in that process, my hands get covered in lotion and then put into these little hand warmer things. Lotion would have ruined the matte finish of this polish.

And lastly: Zoya Envy

Great, great color. Sort of a mossy, dark green. In a way, it reminded me of pool algae. Is that weird? It was a bit darker than I had anticipated, but it was still pretty. It only really showed up as green in certain lights, though, which was a bit of a bummer. Application was nice, and it was opaque in two coats. Wear was not so great, but I blame this on lack-of-good-topcoat, once again. With this polish, I was actually using Orly Sec 'N' Dry, which I really do not like. It definitely did not dry my polish quickly. At all. I'm probably just going to end up using it for my toes, because I really don't want to waste it. It also seriously dulled the shininess of this polish, and made it get scuffed really easily. I'm so happy I got my hands on a new bottle of Poshe on Thursday. Also, I only have one picture of this polish, and it's a bit blurry. I was in a hurry when I was taking these pictures, and didn't realize they were all horrible until it was too late. This picture is pretty color-accurate, though. Oh, and one other thing. This polish STAINED. Seriously, staining was horrific. My nails, my fingers, everything was mossy green. And I used a basecoat! I just don't get it.

Woohoo! I'm almost caught up! I'm really sorry for the lack of posts this past month. Things have been crazy here! It's getting better, though, so hopefully posting will be back to normal soon.

Review: OPI Sea? I Told You!

Last night I went to see Avatar in 3-D. It was absolutely amazing. Sure, the story's been told before: Man from outside world becomes one of the natives, falls in love with the chief's daughter, chaos ensues, and they must save the people. However, it was done in a way that was new and fresh, and, really, it was beautiful. Everything about the movie was beautiful. I really don't see how you would even be watching the same movie if you didn't see it in 3-D, though. The 3-D is integrated so well that it becomes essential in order to have a complete movie-watching experience.

This isn't a movie-review blog, so moving right along! I wanted to paint my nails blue, to match the Na'vi. I honestly don't have many blues in my collection, but I remembered I had OPI Sea? I Told You! in my untried pile, so I reached in there and grabbed it. I'm so happy I did. This color is absolutely gorgeous. It's a beautiful aquamarine with blue-green microshimmer (Not glitter. This is most definitely shimmer. EDIT: Okay, this was actually micro-microglitter. When I went to remove it, it got really rough, and was a bit difficult to remove. Not as hard as with regular glitter, but more difficult than with a standard shimmer polish.), and it actually has a bit of a foil finish. Application was amazing, though the formula was a little thin. I think I did three coats to get perfect coverage. And then, of course, one coat of Poshe to really bring out the shimmer.

This polish is from the Sunbelievable Collection, I believe. I also have Banana Bandanna from this collection, which I'll try eventually.

This polish is so difficult to photograph, though. It was practically impossible to capture just how pretty this polish is. Most of the pictures really showed the foil effect, but none would show the shimmer! These two pictures are the closest to actual polish color. (Both taken indoors, with flash.)

Review: China Glaze Frostbite

I'm back! The wisdom teeth thing went smoothly, I'm told. No complications or anything. The only pain I've been having is on the lower left extraction site, but I was told this was going to happen, since they had to cut some things to get that tooth out. My face is still a bit swollen, and I've been having a fever on and off, along with nausea, but it's nothing I can't handle. Anyway, on to the review!

Yesterday I was feeling up to getting out of bed, and decided I would paint my nails to cheer myself up. I looked through all my untrieds, and I knew I wanted to do something bright but still wintry. Enter China Glaze Frostbite. Oh, man, this polish is a stunner. I don't think I've ever owned any polish this blue. Seriously. It's just like, "BAM!" It's a true, primary blue. To me, it seems to have a bit of that foil effect. Or, really, what it reminds me of are those curly ribbons that go on gifts. You know which ones I'm talking about. They're metallic and the ribbon comes in a roll and you have to curl it with scissors? Well, anyway, that's what this polish reminds me of, and I absolutely love it. Application was great. Three coats polish, one coat Seche Vite. I probably could have gotten away with two coats, but I always like doing three, just to be safe. On with the pictures! By the way, this polish is extremely hard to capture. Many of the pictures kept leaning more teal, which was really weird. These three seem to accurately capture the gorgeousness of this blue, though.

(Indoors, no flash, natural light)

(Indoors, no flash, artificial light)

(Indoors, no flash, artificial light)

Review: Revlon Midnight Affair

This polish is my HG blue. The color is phenomenal, this deep sapphire blue that's never, ever black. The color in the pictures is actually pretty much spot on. This polish has so many dimensions to it, and it's just so pretty. Application is a dream. I was able to achieve bottle color in two coats, though in the pictures above I'm wearing four (with one coat of Seche Vite), because I messed up my nails. Twice. I was a bit clumsy that day, haha. These pictures were taken after two days wearing the polish, and there was very, very minimal tip wear. I'm not really sure what else to say about this polish. It's perfect. (First picture taken with flash indoors, second taken outside with no flash.)