NerdLacquer Don't Blink

NerdLacquer Don't Blink is the other polish that got me drooling over NerdLacquers and crying because I didn't get any before Amanda went on hiatus.

It's modeled after one of my favorite Who monsters, the Weeping Angels. Monsters that don't kill you, but zap you back in time and swipe some of your life energy. They're lightning fast and turn into stone if you look at them. Blink, and you're zapped. Hence, Don't Blink.

Pictured are two coats of light grey creme polish with small black and medium white/silver hex glitters. This photo shows a coat of Hard Candy Matte-ly in Love over it all. I didn't realize that all of the non-matted shots were blurry until I started writing the post. I prefer it matte anyway as it really brings out the stone look!

Zoya London - My first PixieDust polish

I was wary of the whole "textured polish" trend, but after hearing such rave reviews of Zoya's offerings, I decided to try a couple from the original PixieDust release. 

First up I have London, a beautiful grey with a large amount of silver shimmer. Application was super easy. I used two thin coats, no base coat and no top coat. Just make sure you let the first coat dry before adding the second, and you're golden! 

China Glaze Jungle Queen - On Safari Collection, Fall 2012

Jungle Queen is from China Glaze's Fall collection, called On Safari. This polish was hyped up all over the blogosphere as a dupe/close-enough for Chanel Paradoxal (and the HTF Revlon Perplex). Jessica of The Polish Insomniac does a great comparison here. I'll direct you to her post as I do not own Paradoxal - and am fine with that.

This is a pretty color that changes depending on the lighting conditions. It sometimes looks grey, sometimes purple, sometimes an odd, dark purple-brown. It has an awesome pink shimmer that is pretty evident in real life, but hid from my camera until I gave up!

Formula-wise, this bottle was awful! I've yet to encounter one of those thick-and-runny-at-the-same-time polishes, but this one brought it in spades. Really yucky. Hopefully it was just my bottle and I'm not sweating it because I picked it up during Sally Beauty's 50% off clearance sales and it cost less than Wet n' Wild.

OPI The Amazing Spider-Man Collection: Number One Nemesis Swatches

Number One Nemesis is the last of the Spider-Man polishes I picked up. It caught my eye and I snatched it right up, then when I got home, I wondered... Is this a dupe of Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous? In short, no it isn't. Lucerne-tainly is a similar color and finish, but it has a much cooler tone to it. Nemesis has a warmth to the base that makes it different and very nice.

3 coats with top coat and flash

I would advise thin coats and waiting a couple of minutes between. I think I could have gotten away with two coats, but I got inpatient and ended up with patchy areas. Next time I use this one, I think I'll try to use a matte top coat and see how it comes out.

China Glaze Magnetix - Pull Me Close & Attraction

Thanks so much to Bestie for grabbing up these polishes and the China Glaze magnet for me! I saw swatches of this collection on Scrangie's blog, and knew I had to have Pull Me Close and Attraction. On a side note, the names in this set are awesome! Very magnet-y. :)

Pull Me Close is a cornflower blue base with black magnetic particles. I did each nail in a different pattern so you can see how they look. My index finger is a starburst pattern, the middle finger is a diagonal stripe, and ring finger is a chevron pattern.

Attraction has a glittery grey base with black magnetic particles. This one caught my eye because of the large glitter particles. I haven't seen a magnetic polish like this one yet.  Again, I used all three designs in this mani to show the differences in them.

I've seen lots of complaints about the China Glaze magnet being weak. I thought the patterns were very clear with Pull Me Close, but not so much with Attraction. Maybe it's more to do with the polish itself than the magnet.

I did read yesterday that China Glaze is releasing new colors and a different magnet. I'm excited to see it because it seems that everyone is releasing magnetic polishes but using the same patterns. I saw a fishnet pattern that nails inc. is releasing and it looks super cool.

Zoya LE Bibhu Mohapatra NYFW polishes

I couldn't deny this collection for many reasons. Beautiful red, pretty pewter, opaque nude, free shipping, Zoya color box... I love the colors, so I'm glad I got a set. Zoya website says they're now sold out. I love the story of Mohapatra"s inspiration:

"He told us that the red was an homage to his mother. When Bibhu was growing up, he remembered his late mother always wearing the most beautiful color of red nail polish on her nails. Because it was customary to eat with your right hand in India, she only wore the red on her left hand. So he always rembered her left had being painted." (zoya.com)

Say it with me, guys. "Aww!"

I swatched and took pics of the Color Box, but I think I'll save the box pics for another day.

Zoya Parveen is a yellow-based beige/nude with a very nice shimmer. Zoya says its opaque in 2 coats, but my 2nd coat was really streaky, so I added a third. It was hard to get a good pic of this one. It's not as yellow in real life. I had just scrubbed Starry Pink (removal was much easier than I expected), so that's why I've got lobster hands going on.

Zoya Zeenat is a lighter silver/grey with a fairly obvious silver shimmer. This is two coats, no topcoat. Looks VNL-y on my ring finger, but there really isn't any. Very pretty. It's got purple tones to it, so of course those jump right out on my hands.

Zoya Rekha is a classic red creme. It is similar to Sooki, but is cooler and more blue-based than her. This color was practically opaque after 1 coat, but 2 got rid of all VNL. I think I'm good for reds now. :)

Layering - Essie Chinchilly and As Gold as it Gets with Pure Ice Heartbreaker

I've had quite a bit of blingy manicures lately, so I decided to try something a little more subtle. I picked up Pure Ice Heart Breaker at Walmart awhile ago, but haven't used it yet. I poked through my stash and decided to throw it over Essie Chinchilly and As Gold as it Gets.

Sadly, lots of shrinkage with this manicure.

Macro shot that shows flakes of AGaiG and green/blue shimmer of Heart Breaker

Nails Inc Paddington

I showed up half an hour early for Zumba by accident, so I figured I'd throw up a quick blog post.

Paddington is the last of my Nails Inc Autumn set I'll be showing. *Correction: It's absolutely not. The last polish is Charing Cross, which is a great red, but is very similar to Zoya Sooki and OPI Color So Hot It Berns. I have grand plans for it and SpectraFlair. I'll show you how that turns out.

Paddington fell into step with my other Nails Inc polishes as far a formula, brush, and wear. Fabulous.
I've seen others talk of this leaning green on them, but for me it really looked like a deep grey. It leaned a little bit blue, but aside from a clueless 20-something male patient thinking it was black, most people commented on its grey-ness. Regardless, it's a great fall/winter color, and $25 for a 4 color set is a great price, so I say fill your carts. :)

Essie Chinchilly

There is an interesting story behind this polish. I got a coupon in the mail for $2 off an Essie polish from Meijer, so I went in to check out their display. They have a good selection at this store, which is not the case for most Essie retailers in my town. So, I decide on Chinchilly and am trying to find a bottle without a gunked-up top. There was one of the OG style bottles (raised E on the cap), and I decided to get it. When I got to the register, it rang up on clearance for $1.99. The cashier told me they marked down all of the original-style bottles! Am I going to head back and dig through the display? Yes!
I'm pretty happy with the polish itself. It was pretty thin, but I got great coverage with 3 thin coats. I used Zoya Anchor for the base coat and Seche Vite for the top coat and got 4 days of wear before my first tiny chip. In most lighting, it looks like a dark grey, but there is some purple in there, so that pulls through almost all the time. If a polish has any purple at all, it'll definitely show on my hands!

OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous

I love gunmetal grey glitters. Acutally, this is probably a foil. This came in a set of minis with Yodel Me On My Cell, Color So Hot It Berns, and an OPI Rapi-dry Topcoat. May have to buy a full sized bottle if I could find one. This is Orly Bonder, 2 thin coats of polish, and OPI topcoat. I'm not that impressed with the topcoat as it seems pretty thin. Wear seems decent. I got a chip the first night, but washed my hair about an hour after applying it. I'm curious to see what it does at work, since I wash my hands so much they see more water than Tammy Faye Baker's eyelashes.