Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Obligatory green!

Such prettiness. I think Zoya was able to do what OPI couldn't - make a pretty matte that didn't seem so dull and lifeless. Go on with your bad self, Zoya!

Now, something NOT green. :)

I spoke about Ginger & Liz, my new nail polish crush...and here is Trance.

I think it was supposed to be a holographic, but it's not showing up here. In person...it is some serious wow factor. Definitely one of my faves! I have a few more bottles from Ginger & Liz and I've a feeling I'm going to be loving every single one of them.

Ginger & Liz - mini swatch

I've been waiting for a shipment of nail polish to come in from a new company called Ginger & Liz - and it's finally arrived...pity a bottle (Tough Luxe) got broken in transit and it spilled everywhere, but the colors that did make it are fabulous! Tough Luxe sure looked pretty enough all over the inside of the packaging and on the other bottles. I was finally able to clean off the broken bottle's contents off the remaining shipment...and what a treasure, indeed.

I was so excited I had to share. So much for putting up a green nail polish in honor of St. Patrick's Day. Guess that'll happen tomorrow because for now it's all about Ginger & Liz, my new nail polish crush.
I'm going gray, baby!

Ginger & Liz - remember those names because the colors and application will rock your world. I love the wax coat finish on Gray Area and I've got to bust out with Royal Flush now. The finish is awesome - it's not super shiny and it's not like other mattes out there - this is a wonderful compromise that reminds me of candle wax. It's a nice dull shine! I only needed 2 thin applications of the prettiness.

Check it out below. :)

 

Zoya Polishes - Irene and Anastasia

 I keep looking at this color and thinking, it's the sister to Midori! I'm going to have to do a comparison swatch...it's darker, edgier with a lovely golden shimmer. It warms it up enough but doesn't detract from the coolness of the color - if it had been too warm it would look like green pewp on me.

And no it's not like Midori - my bad! Midori is lighter and more golden...but still gorgeous. :)

 I was having China  Glaze flashbacks when I put this on. This is suspiciously close (at least in color and shimmer) to CG's Lasso My Heart... Oops, compared swatches and I'm wrong. This is richer, fuller...much prettier. I definitely prefer Zoya's take on this.

Note on the formula - these were 3 coaters for me. 2 looked ok, but 3 really showed the true beauty of these babies...and look ma -- NO BUBBLES! It dried fast and smooth.
Will be doing more Zoya colors during the week because I ordered quite a few when we got our tax return. ;)

Essie - Angora Cardi swatches

So much for me keeping Cashmere Cardigan on for the weekend. I got all distracted by Essie's Angora Cardi. It was a winner for the weekend. :) It's not quite a rose color and it's close to Butter's Tramp Stamp.

Very pretty! :)

Orly - Cashmere Cardigan

Ok, I'm wearing this right now...and am loving it. Hopefully I can keep it on for the weekend unless I get distracted by another color in my collection! Essie's Shelter Island and OPI's No Room For the Blues still keep calling me.

How pretty is this? LOVE IT!!! :)

Now I must wear Essie's Angora Cardi on Monday...or tomorrow. ;)

Orly - Foil FX

Things that make me go SQUEEEEE...and when I saw this on my nails, I sure did that. :)

I'm currently wearing this on my nails - loving this shiny foil like effect!

 Out of all the 3 Foil Fxes, this one flattered me the most and I loved it. I looked at it on me and the only thought that ran through my head was, "This reminds me of rose gold!"

It looked super futuristic on me, but I did like this...it reminded me of an old school Urban Decay I had about 15 years ago.

 

Not one my favorites...only because it's too close to gold and I look awful in gold. Rose gold (I love it makes things have an antique-y feel to it!) is a bit cooler in tone so I find I tend to favor it than straight up yellow gold. When I looked at this color from a distance on me it really wasn't very flattering for me.

Comparison

Comparison swatches of Essie's Shelter Island and OPI's No Room For The Blues in different lighting.
WordPress does things a little differently than Blogger for images - you have to click the thumbnail here, it takes you to another page and you'll have to click that image again to be able to see the original size.

 Out of these two, I really love Shelter Island the best. I wear it whenever I can. However, you can't really see the very subtle difference between the two here.

 You can see the slight difference in the shade pic, but it's the sunlight shot that really shows the difference between the two. However, it's such a close call you can really get away with it. One is slightly deeper, the other...not so much. As I said, it's subtle, but for me I definitely prefer the deeper shade, but they are both gorgeous, n'est-ce pas?

Barielle Swatches

More swatches of Barielle swatches...absolutely gorgeous!

So I love this shade of blue...but I'm telling you, this copper glitter totally mars it. I think this color could've been much much prettier without that odd color of glitter thrown in, don't you? IMO, this would've been the perfect shade of blue ever on the face of the earth...aside from that awful shade of copper. Then again, I guess there is a reason it's called Falling Star.

Now this is an awesome shade of green...I love that it's got a lovely shimmery sheen running through it. It keeps it on the cooler side of warm. I love it!

It's Like...Butta!

ah, Butter London! The colors are fabulous, the application flawless...the smell isn't as revolting as other polishes, thank God. It still smells like nail polish, but it's a lighter smell -- is that even possible? :)

 One of those eponymous greys for this spring. It's similar to Chanel's Particuliere and Color Club's High Society. This has a bit more grey than the others...it's nice, but I def prefer Tramp Stamp.

I don't know why but this color really had love written all over for me. It looks like a light raisin color in the sun, but it's not. It's truly a rich, gorgeous purple-y brown...freaking fabulous. The color is closer to real life in the shade shot. Isn't it beautiful?

Some OPI Suedes

Two things:
1) click the thumbnail to make it larger...and in some instances, click the enlarged photo to make it even larger!

2) Please excuse the badly mangled cuticles and lack of moisturizing on them...OPI said don't use a base coat, don't use a top coat, don't use any lotions, etc while wearing this. Blah, blah, blah. I followed it for the most part...except on a few where they said "NO BASE COATS!!!" I used one. Bite me.

For the most part, I won't be saying anything really because the pics really do speak for themselves. :)

 IMO, it looks best with a top coat...don't you agree? It just makes the color so much prettier!

 Again, I like it better with the top coat...it just brings out the prettiness of the color.

Hm. Jury's out on this one for me.

Random Essie Swatches

Some Essie Swatches I've been meaning to upload, but kept forgetting...until now! :)

 I thought I was gonna love this color when I put it on me. Nerp. Nope. Didn't like it one bit...NOT ONE BIT. It almost looks like I've got skittles on my fingers, doesn't it? LOL

 Not a bad shade of a pastel. It's not too obnoxious, but it will do. :) At least it doesn't look like Skittles. :D

This is my favorite of the three. I guess when it comes down to it, I like purple - even if it's lavender.

Random China Glaze Swatches

I found these random China Glaze swatches I had done...don't know when, but it seems like it was a while ago. :)

China Glaze's tribute to Audrey Hepburn. They made a Tiffany blue just for her. As some or most of you know, Tiffany's holds the patent for the blue so you can only get close to replication, but not the actual blue...or green. Or whatever color it is.

Secret Peri-wink-le

Indoors, no Flash (Top) and Indoors with flash (bottom)

Oddly enough...I really liked this color. It is a true periwinkle. While this color never looks good on me in reality, in my head I say it looks fabulous and keep on wearing it. :D

 Lubu Heels

Indoors, no flash (top); Outdoors (bottom)

Not one of my favorite colors. I thought this was the ghetto cousin of Midnight In Moscow. Yea, I went there.