Clinique Black Honey Velvet

Hello, all! I know I've been AWOL for a little while, sorry about that! I so did not mean to not post for so long.

This was a request from KarenD. I just wish my nails weren't so wonky looking in these pictures! The color is accurate, though. I really need to remember to NOT use old topcoat on jelly polishes, or, really, any polish at all. It makes the finish of the polish look horrible and scuffed and just plain bad. Also, oy! I'm so sorry for the crazy tipwear. I couldn't find my camera charger, so I couldn't take pictures. But then I found it! But I'd already been wearing the polish for a few days. :\ Enough excuses, though! Onto the pictures!

I love this polish. It's a great vampy berry red that would be perfect for fall. It does sometimes seem to have slightly chocolatey undertones, but for the most part, it's a true vampy berry. 

I'm not quite sure when Clinique released this polish, but I do know they don't make it anymore and that when they did make it, it was a limited release and only in minis. (I could be wrong about that, though. This is just what I've found from various Google searches.) I bought my bottles on ebay, and ebay's the only place I've ever seen this polish for sale. I just checked, and there's currently one bottle for sale at the time of writing this post. Honestly, though, this color is pretty dupeable and there are many other polishes out there with better formula, too. Because the formula on this was..eh. It was okay. Not the best, but not the worst, either. This is three coats.

China Glaze Entourage.

This color was impossible to capture. It's a beautiful crisp Granny Smith apple green with a slight green shimmer. I love it! I did two coats here, but I'm realizing now that I should have done three. Oh well. Application was lovely, though! Pretty much one of the best China Glazes I've worn.

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?

BB Couture Fairy Blood.

Say hello to the polish that rekindled my love for nail polish. In November of last year, I saw an image of BB Couture Fairy Blood somewhere. Now, this was way back when I only had about 60 polishes. I did happen to have China Glaze Ruby Pumps, though, but from what I saw of Fairy Blood, the two weren't identical. I had to have this polish. So I searched and searched, and finally I found where to buy BB Couture: Overall Beauty. So I ordered the polish and the rest, folks, is history. I have several red glitter polishes and, seriously, this trumps them all.
This is one of my absolute favorite polishes. It's a beautiful blood red jelly with red, almost glass fleck-like glitter. Application is flawless, and wear was pretty good. Sadly, I can't compare wear with any other BB Couture polishes, since this is my only one.