butter LONDON Dodgy Barnett and Shag - Swatches and Review

It seems that butter LONDON had released a store-exclusive polish every other week shortly after their regular Autumn/Winter collection was released. Several seemed lovely, but I've been trying to reign in my polish spending lately and if there are two things I have trouble backing away from, it's holos and browns. So, to my home came Dodgy Barnett and Shag.

Dodgy Barnett is a very fine silver glitter with scattered holo particles. It's rather thin, but builds up easily. I have two coats on my ring finger and three on the others. Dodgy Barnett is a beautiful, clean-feeling polish. I wish the holo were a bit more pronounced, but I'm still pretty happy with it.

The other polish I ordered from this collection is Shag. Shag is a warm-toned, brown shimmer polish. I was so excited for this one because I love browns, but I was very underwhelmed by this polish on my nails. I don't know if it's because of my skin tone or what, but just don't like the look of it. I'll probably give it another go before I completely give up.

What do you think of butter LONDON's new offerings? Any you just couldn't say no to?

China Glaze Holiday Joy 2012 - Select swatches and review

I visited my local Sally Beauty Supply this week and had the China Glaze Holiday Joy collection shoved in my face. :) (Hi Christy!) Seriously, she knows how much I love polish and gets just as excited about new collections as I do. I'll bet she's pretty amused watching me paw through boxes deciding what I "need." 

I only grabbed three from this collection of twelve polishes. As is typical of a holiday collection, there are reds, greens, silvers, golds, cremes, and glitters. Winter Holly, Glitter All The Way, and Pure Joy jumped out at me as polishes that are unique in my collection. I did something different on each nail, so I think I'll discuss that in captions under each photo. 

L-R: 2 coats Winter Holly, 3 coats WH, 3 coats WH over butter LONDON British Racing Green,  2 coats WH over bL BRG

L-R: 2 coats Glitter all the Way over Zoya Monica, 3 coats GatW over Monica, 3 coats GatW, 2 coats GatW

Same as above photo

Index - Pinky: 2 coats Pure Joy over red creme, 3 coats PJ over red, 3 coats PJ, 2 coats PJ

Same as above photo

 All polishes had excellent application for your typical glitter bomb in a clear base. I will definitely be using Elmer's Glue as a base coat when I use these for a regular mani. I also prefer the look of these with a solid color as "underwear."

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.

Zoya Myrta Swatches - Summer 2012 Surf Collection

Myrta is a bright orange glass-fleck polish loaded with irregular silver shimmer that is part of Zoya's Surf collection from this summer. I picked it up during one of their fabulous promos. Seriously, you've got to be a fan of Zoya for their promos if not for their awesome polish. 

These photos are with two coats of Myrta swatched quickly without base or top coats. This polish has tons of shimmer that catches the eye and looks great! I'm rather sad I didn't get this earlier in the summer.

Zoya Natty Swatches - Designer Collection - Fall 2012

Natty is the third polish I grabbed from Zoya's Designer collection. It is a beautiful dusty grey-blue creme and was complete perfection in two coats. One thick coat would do it if you're careful, but I prefer to be less careful and use two coats. So wasteful... :)

I really don't know what to say about the formula that hasn't been said. Zoya's formula is one of my favorites, and their brush is fantastic. Full, flexible, and on a compact stem that's easy to control. 

Review! Zoya Gilty over Nails Inc Chelsea

I declined to get Gilty for myself, but picked up the trio (Gilty, Purity, and Raven) for bestie for her birthday. Basically, she totally deserves it but wouldn't get it for herself. :) So I posted a pic on my Facebook when it came in, and she was all, "Swatch it for the blog!" And I was all, "Okay!" So, here it is...

Of the 18K topcoats I've seen, Gilty is my favorite. Several have teeny, tiny flakes (I'm looking at you, $OPI!) but these were a nice size. Noticeable, but not gaudy. Says the girl with gold nail polish.

The texture of this polish is odd. It's rather gel-like. I decided not to brush it on like normal polish after the first nail. I found that it worked best to dab on. The flakes stayed nice and flat, but the base was thick enough that the texture showed very nicely. All in all, it allows a great effect and will be a fabulous addition to our holiday wardrobe!

I'd like to end with a super belated birthday to the best bestie ever. We've been attached-at-the-hip for the past twenty-one years (OMG!) and it seems like both 2 months and forever I the same time. I <3 her hard core.

Zoya Monica Designer Collection - Swatches and Review

I have a ton of purple polishes, but purple is my color. Can a girl have too much of her color? Nope. I debated picking up Monica because it seemed similar to Mira. When I have them side-by-side, I see that Monica is much deeper and bluer. I haven't actually blogged Mira, so I'll put that and a comparison on my to-do list.

Above are two coats of Monica swatched without top coat. It is a very opaque, deep plum creme. A very rich tone that is perfect for fall. It wears wonderfully as I wore it as a full mani this weekend and still hasn't chipped despite handwashings at work on Friday, and cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. yesterday and today.

I'm really glad I picked this one up! Have you gotten any from Zoya's Fall collections?