Essie California Coral.

Oy. I apologize for the horrible webcam picture! But, seriously, it was the only camera that could even remotely capture the color of this polish. And it's still not bright enough! Seriously, this is one bright polish.

I actually got this for..Christmas, I believe? I really love it. It's part of Essie's core collection, and, honestly, I don't think I've ever seen anyone talk about it before. That's understandable, since it looks like a pretty basic coral in the bottle. But on the nails, it just pops! It's so bright and vivid, and it made my nails look flawless. The formula was a bit fussy, though. I was able to achieve (almost) perfection by doing three thin, meticulous coats and allowing them to settle a bit before I did the next coat, but, yes, it's a bit of a hassle to apply. Totally worth it, though.

On another note, do you see how long my nails were at that point? Man, I miss them. They've been breaking like crazy lately. Does anyone have any tips on how to help them grow better? I normally have pretty strong nails. I've heard Nail Tek suggested before. Anyone have any experience with that?

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?)

Hello, my name is Jean, and I have a polish-buying problem.

Yep, you guessed it. I bought even more polish. But wait! Before you say anything, you must understand: LEMMINGS. Serious, serious lemmings.

First up, a few polishes I picked up at Sally's last Thursday. I really only went in there to get a new bottle of Poshe (the tale of what happened to my old bottle is forthcoming), but then I decided to glance at their sale rack. SKFJBSKB. So glad I did. There was China Glaze Glacier! One of the most-lemmed polishes on my lemming list. And right next to it was ChG Dreamsicle! What the heck, Sally's? Have you been holding out on me? Because those definitely were never on display with the rest of the glitters. Anyway, their sale items were buy 1, get 1 50% off, and my mom was only getting one polish (Finger Paints Wine Wristlet), so I also got Finger Paints Cobalt Cardigan. It's a super-pretty dark navy that seems to have a little bit of teal in it.

This picture does not show just how pretty these polishes are. Glacier has all this pastel opalescent glitter, and Cobalt Cardigan is not that black-looking, and the flakies in Merry Midnight aren't even showing up. Sigh.

(L to R: ChG Glacier, ChG Dreamsicle, Finger Paints Cobalt Cardigan, and OPI Merry Midnight [Which I left out of my previous haul post, so I decided to include a picture here.])

Moving on.

I'm visiting relatives in south Florida this weekend, and there's this huge shopping center nearby. With an Ulta. Now, I have never been to Ulta before. When I walked in..oh my goodness. It's just heavenly, isn't it? There were so many polishes I wanted, but I had to restrain myself, since they were all a bit expensive. They even had the China Glaze Up & Away collection! I didn't get any, though, because—and yes, I know this might be blasphemous—none of them were really drawing me in. They looked so pretty online..but in person? I don't know. I just felt they lacked..something.

They had so many other amazing polishes, though! Including OPI La Paz-itively Hot Matte! I passed on it, though, because I already was spending too much, haha. I did get OPI Mad As A Hatter, though, because my Trade Secret still hasn't called me to tell me they got more in, like they said they were going to. I also picked up OPI Jade Is The New Black. As for non-OPIs? I checked out all the Ulta brand ones, but nothing was really pulling me in.

Then I got to the Essie section. You know you're addicted when you see a polish from 20 feet away and know EXACTLY what it is. The polish in question here was Essie Aruba Blue. YES! They had it! And oh my word, it's so gorgeous in person.

I only bought one other polish, and that's Sula Paint and Peel in Watermelon (It looks more like a cherry blossom to me, but whatever). I've been curious about these polishes for quite some time, but I've never had a chance to see them in person. My mom was also intrigued, so she agreed to split the cost with me. Originally, I was going to get Moss, but I've been craving a good pink lately.

(L to R OPI Mad As A Hatter, Sula Paint & Peel in Watermelon, Essie Aruba Blue, OPI Jade Is The New Black)

Yeah..Only MAAH is really color-accurate. The Sula is a bit darker pink (like these cherry blossoms), Aruba Blue is darker and prettier, and JITNB is a bit darker, as well. The lighting in this room is just really weird. Sorry!

Review: Essie Very Cranberry

So I actually did this manicure before the Milani Key Lime Shine. I just wanted to post Key Lime Shine on my birthday, since I wore it for my birthday and all. Anyway, this is Essie Very Cranberry. It's a reddish pink..shimmer? Creme? I couldn't decide with this one. It's got this insanely subtle pink/fuchsia shimmer to it that only shows up in certain lights, and then just barely. But it's there. It applied like all other Essies I've tried (excluding Mint Candy Apple). It's a bit thin, but it goes on pretty easily, and it dries in an okay amount of time. I can't remember exactly how many coats this was. I'm going to assume three coats polish, one coat Poshe, since that's how many I normally do. This color truly was lovely. I wore it for my first "week" of the new semester, and it was perfect. Pretty and a little bright, but still subtle enough to not cause people to stare at my nails and not at me, haha.

Both pictures are with flash, indoors. This polish was so hard to capture. All the pictures made it look way more pink than it actually was. I mean, sure, it was a little pink. But most of the pictures I took made it look hot pink. These two were the closest two that came to being practically spot-on.

Oh, and I apologize for that large streak of polish on my pinky. I have no idea how it got there, haha. I also apologize for the tipwear. I'd had this polish on for about three-or-so days.

EDIT: I thought I should let you all know, this is one red that does not stain. As you can see in the comments, I mentioned how I love reds, but they're so staining. Not this one! Perhaps that is because it has that pink undertone to it?

Double Review: Essie Mint Candy Apple and Zoya Richelle

Happy New Year! Yes, I know this is quite a few days late, but I just haven't had the time until now to post. Sorry about that! Actually, things are going to be crazy these next few days. I'm starting my second semester at the university tomorrow. I also have a little party happening on Friday, and then Saturday's my birthday. So, yeah, this week is going to be kind of hectic. Anyway, onto the review!

I know I promised to review Essie Mint Candy Apple, but, sadly, I had to delete my pictures before I could get them on my computer. Well, actually, it's not all that sad. They were horrible pictures. Definitely not color-accurate at all. I had to delete them, though, because I went on a scavenger hunt on New Year's Eve with a bunch of my friends, and I had to use my camera to take pictures and videos for the hunt. I had a blast. Probably one of the best New Year's parties I've been to.

Anyway, I guess I can just tell you my thoughts on MCA. The color is great. A very, very pale mint green with blue undertones. I can see this color in the spring, but it's also most definitely a winter color. There's something very cold and wintry about it. Super cute. However. Application was horrendous. The polish was thick, and it took forever to dry, even with a fast-dry top coat. I think I had to use four coats, and it still kind of looked like crap, especially around the cuticle area. It just..wasn't good. The color was pretty, though, so I'll try it again at some point, and possibly get some pictures into this post for it.

Okay, now for Richelle. This was my New Year's mani. I absolutely love this color. It's a bright, shimmery, in-your-face gold. A bit ostentatious, really. But in the best way possible. It's probably the goldest gold I've ever seen, though. Some golds can be a bit yellowy or even a bit silver or bronze. But no. This is GOLD. Application was great, too. I want to say I did three coats. I probably could have gotten away with two, but I always do three, just to be safe. I bought this polish during the Green Friday madness. Originally it was going to be my Christmas color, but when I saw it, I just knew I had to use it for New Year's. I know gold polish isn't for everyone, but I love it. In 11th grade I had a bit of an obsession, trying to find the best gold. I never did find it then. But now I think I have. It's perfect, and, in my opinion, really works with my skin tone. Here are a few pictures:

Both picture are with flash, indoors. See just how shiny it is? It's definitely got that foil effect going on.