Perfectly Polished Tips 223 - OPI Get in the Espresso Lane

This was supposed to be a NOTD Monday post! We don't have cable, we haven't for probably about 18 months now. We did however sign up for Amazon Prime because who doesn't need to stock their bathroom with 42 rolls of toilet paper at once? Thanks to Amazon Prime my kid recently discovered Go Diego Go! Whenever a computer is turned on she thinks it is Diego time...she is completely obsessed. I have been spending a lot less time on the internet because of this. It's probably a good thing though.

This week's NOTD is OPI Get in the Espresso Lane. It's from OPI's Touring America collection which was released last fall. In the bottle it is a murky, brown, kinda grayed out creme. I was hoping that it would be similar to the bottle color on my nails. It pulls way more gray and looks like cement on me. It's still a very nice color but with the beautiful weather we have had here in NC it is way too dark and drab.

The formula on this polish was decent, I had a bit of pulling which gave bald spots. One nail has three coats of polish because the first two were not even at all. The worst part of it all was the brush! I already have a strong dislike for the pro wide brushes, this one had bristles sticking out every which way. I tried to attack it with cuticle scissors but I was not that successful.

Yea, that is my steering wheel. NO I WAS NOT TAKING NOTD PHOTOS WHILE DRIVING! Who do you think I am? The high way FOTD taker from MUA? :)

In all seriousness though please don't take photos while you are driving. Not only are you putting yourself in danger but all the other people on the road! I was parked when I took these.

Zoya Surf & Beach landed here today! I hope to have swatches up over the next couple of days.

Perfectly Polished Tips 187 - Nail of the Day Monday

The next couple of NOTD Monday's are kind of a cheat. They are past manicures that I have not yet shared on the blog. I am in the middle of a move and am unable to do a new mani in time for Monday. It's currently 11:57PM on Sunday and my nails have the chipped remains of last week's Visions of Sugar Plums! Lucky for me I had a few glittery polish photos stashed away.

Lippmann Superstar was the polish I was hoping to kick off the glittery month of December with. It is a beautiful coppery/brown chunky glitter polish. As I have said before I am not big on glitter, I think it's the tough removal. I've only worn this color on my tips twice. Both times were 2 coats over a brown creme. It's a gorgeous polish and I'm glad I own it!

Perfectly Polished Tips 182 - Zoya Smoke

If I had to use one collection of polish for the rest of my life this is the collection I would choose. For fall Zoya released Smoke & Mirrors. This is the Smoke half and it is made up of six amazing creme polishes. I know most of these colors have been done before but I really like Zoya. I like that they are B3F and environmentally friendly. My little girl has recently gotten into polishing her toes and I love that this line is available. I feel great about letting her use them and the color selection doesn't hurt either. These all applied with ease. Photos are two coats of color with no base or top coats.

Jana

Petra

Dree

Cynthia

Codie

Anja

Smoke & Mirrors can be found on Zoya.com. Also make sure you follow them on facebook as they do the occasional promo. There have been lots of good deals on zoya lately!

(these were sent to me for review)

Perfectly Polished Tips 126 - Carolyn New York Swatches

I posted photos of Carolyn New York's Holiday collection a couple of weeks ago, and now I have a few more colors to share. I really love CNY polishes, I probably went on and on about it in my last post, but seriously everything about them is amazing. If you get the chance to try them, please do. I think they are on sale for $5.99 at the moment but I'm not 100% sure on how long it's going to last.

Brownsville - Melted chocolate on my finger tips


Howard Beach - this is a gorgeous, shimmery purple but unfortunately it was really hard to photograph. Winter here has been horrible, and I haven't had good sunlight in forever. The photo above is pretty true to life, it's a blackened purple with amazing shimmer. It is one of those polishes that look black indoors but if you are lucky enough to catch a glimpse of it in the sun you will be stunned.

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Howard Beach w/ flash in artificial lighting

Howard Beach w/ flash in artificial lighting. It is not as blue as it appears here.

Hillside - a deep eggplant creme. It's a very clean and classy color.

Street Fair - I somehow mislabeled the photo and for some silly reason I don't have the original photo on my PC. So please excuse the typo! This is a sheer milky pink, the photo is 3 coats over 2 coats of Essie's Ridge Filler. It's a nice clean neutral color and would probably be good for french manicures.

Perfectly Polished Tips 113 - Zoya Kalista

For the long holiday weekend we went to visit family. I was worried about my polish chipping but didn't want to be bothered with bringing my manicure supplies. I put on Zoya Kalista and decided I would just deal with any mishaps. To my surprise and delight Kalista lasted a whole week. I applied it last Tuesday and removed it today to swatch some new polishes.

Here is photo from earlier this afternoon. I had one tiny chip on my left thumb but other than that all I had was some tip wear.

I was surprised because I've never had a Zoya wear this well for me. I used Color Club Vita Base and Out the Door top coat. When I first started getting serious about my nails I would worry about chipping and it would always happen with in 2-3 days. Finally I stopped worrying and decided it wouldn't be the end of the world if I walked around with a chipped, or *gasp* naked nails for a couple of days. Now I get awesome wear out of pretty much all of my polishes. I don't think it's the base coat because before that I was using Lippmann Hydrating and I got great results as well. Maybe it's Out the Door.

I just wanted to share because I love Zoya polish but always shy away from using them because I don't have as much time to change my polish as often as I used too.

Perfectly Polished Tips 105 - Amour Black Berry

I am working through the untried polishes in my stash. At first I was going to use Random.org's integer generator but it kept choosing colors I had already worn and I wasn't about to make a new spread sheet for my unworn polishes. So I decided I would go in alphabetical order by brand. I'll be doing ones I haven't photographed on tips and those that have been swatched but not worn on my toes. First up Amour Black Berry

This color doesn't look like a black berry at all. It's a coppery, redish brown with gold shimmer. I don't like it at all and it will probably be removed once I am finished with this post. The first coat went on a deep berry color so I thought I might like it but once I saw it under my bulbs I said no way. I was really going to try to stick it out but I just don't think it's for me.

It applied beautifully though, it was opaque in two coats and I didn't have an issue with streaking. I did three coats because all of the sudden I have become a habitual three coater. The brush is nice, not too wide, and it's not super long or short. I had good control over it. It dried very quickly with the help of Out the Door. I would definitely buy this brand of polish but just not this color.

I did some Googling and couldn't find anything on the company but Transdesign.com sells them for $1.99 and it seems like they have some good color choices.

Perfectly Polished Tips 102 - My Top 20 Part I

So some people have 1 favorite polish or maybe 5. I however have 20 "must haves" that I would like to share with you. Some are my all time favorite, some are from newer collections. These are the ones I am loving at the moment. Although when I think about it this list isn't really fair, as I haven't worn all the polishes I own. Yet. I will admit that I have an unreasonable amount of untrieds but we'll save that for another day! Here is the first half of my top twenty list. In no special order.

China Glaze White Kwik Silvr - reminds me of winter and the glitter is amazing

Nicole Pinkerbell - soft, girly and Tinkerbell is my favorite

Sephora by OPI Metro Chic - unique but chic..it's a fun color

OPI Got the Blues for Red - my HG red creme, it's classic

Zoya Kalista - one of the few glitter polishes, it's so pretty

L'Oreal Emerpor - my newest obsession..dark blurple (more purple) creme

China Glaze Bermuda Breakaway - perfect blue creme

butter London Portobello Pink - fun summer color..usually I use it on my toes

Lippmann Collection Fade to Black - 1 coater, great for layering

OPI Designer Series Glamour - looks awesome layered over OPI Dating a Royal

Perfectly Polished Tips 93 - Orly Gems Collection

I'm a little late to the party with these I suppose. For fall 2008 Orly drew inspiration from precious gemstones found around the world. The Gems collection contains 6 rich colors and each comes with a corresponding cocktail ring. I have three of the polishes here, sans rings because I had to hide them from my 2 year old son. Ever since Orly went big three free I've had a horrible time applying their polishes. I was hoping it was going to be different because I haven't purchases an Orly since May or so, but nope. I had a terrible time with Golden Jubilee, I had to remove it twice before I was able to get it on nicely. I had Star of Bombay (but gifted it to my sister because it was too similar to other polishes that I owned) and it didn't have too much of a drying issue. So maybe it's more hit or miss.

Mandalay Ruby is a bright ruby red. To me red is classy and is never out. I don't wear red nails as much as I used to but this polish might have rekindled my love for red cremes. This one applied fine, this is three coats. It's more on the jelly side in my opinion so while it was fine at two I preferred three.

Golden Jubilee is an amazing glowing golden amber. It's so much prettier in real life and I wish it didn't clash so much with my skin tone. I was amazed when I put it on and fell in love instantly, however it looks like i swirled my hands around in a bowl of mac & cheese.

Golden Maharaja is a glimmering dark brown topaz shade. I'm in love with color as well but I don't think it loves me. This one has similar application problems as Golden Jubilee, it was a bit thick but nothing too horrible.

This collection also contains Star of Bombay (shimmering sapphire blue), Midnight Star (shimmering deep amethyst), and Sea of Light (creamy pink topaz).

Orly can be found at OrlyBeauty.com, Sally Beauty stores, and the etailers that I have listed on my side bar.

Perfectly Polished Tips 87 - Zoya Flourish

Zoya Flourish is new for Winter 08/09. It is a whole collection of rich colors with a foil finish. I have become a huge fan of the foil finish as I mentioned in previous posts. This collection isn't filled with colors that strike me as winter colors but more of spring-ish colors. I think the mettalicness and foilness make up for that though. They applied great with the exception of Shivon, I had a lot of brush marks which are pretty visible in the picture. All of the colors are pretty opaque, my swatches are all 2 coats of color, a couple like Zara will probably benefit from a third coat.

Richelle is a beautiful yellow gold. I really like this polish but I feel like it clashes with my skin. A while back I went through a gold phase collection every gold I could get my hands on. Then one day it hit me that gold was not my color. I'm still going to try to attempt to wear this one. I feel like if you have the confidence to pull off something anything will look good.

Kalista is a mohangany brown with gold shimmer. It has more of a red base rather than purple. I really like this polish more so than OPI Esspresso Your Style. EYS went very plummy on me and I just didn't like how it looked. I'm not sure if my new found love of brown is what makes me want to wear this or if it actually flatters me. Either way this is the winner of the collection for me.

Shivon is a rose gold color, looks duo-chromey to me. This color reminds me of pennies, but it is pretty. This one I got a lot of brush strokes with. I'm not a huge fan of it, I don't think it looks good on me, others might like it though.

Mieko is an orangey red, boarding more pink with gold sparkles. The sparkles in this polish are amazing and this picture doesn't do the color justice. This is my second favorite from the collection.

Zara is a pale violet with gold shimmer. Zoya calls this a duo chrome but I think it just has a gold sheen. This one is kinda sheer, this picture is 2 coats of color. A third coat might make it pop a little more but I like two coats. When I first saw the promo pictures of this collection I thought Zara was going to be a Sally Hansen Arabian Night dupe but it is nothing like AN.

Cyma is a deep pink red with gold shimmer. This color is the least unique to me, I feel like it has been done a million times. However a Zoya collection wouldn't be complete without one. Just like Essie and her sheer pinks.

I don't usually review cosmetics but these beauties followed Flourish home. Zoya Hot lips are pretty great. I've only worn Starlet so far, the gloss isn't overly sticky and the applicator is rounded making it easy to get the product out. It smells like those fire cracker ice pops, I think that is what they are called. It tastes nice too. Starlet is sheer but buildable which I like. I am not very big on wearing any type of color on my face, except blush. I was able to apply this gloss and only leave a light tint. It has glitter but it's not gritty and with the sheer coat I applied it wasn't visible. This can be a pro or con depending on what you like. Personally I'm not a huge glitter fan so I liked that I could wear it with out the glitter being an issue. The gloss also lasted for a decent amount of time which is great. You know what else is great? Matching your gloss to your polish. The three above match Richelle, Kalista, and Mieko almost perfectly.

Zoya nail lacquer and Zoya Hot Lips can be found at Zoya.com. The polishes retail for $6 each or you can purchase a sampler (which is full size polishes) for $36. Hot Lips retail for $6 each and come in a wide variety of colors.

Perfectly Polished Tips 73 - Zoya Vibe

Vibe is the second fall collection out from Zoya this fall. At first glance to me it looked as if they put two of each color in the box, and I was disappointed. I took them into the sun to swatch and got a surprise. I love cremes so it's not a surprise that I would love this collection. They all applied very well with the exception of Riley. That one was streaky but three coats of color evened it out. This collection has possible dupes of OPI Got the Blues for Red, which was recently discontinued and a HG red for me as well as OPI Hollywood & Wine which is also a discontinued color. When I reviewed Priti Polish I wrote about how much I loved the brown creme, well this collection has one as well and I am in love. Seriously a year ago I wouldn't have given any brown a second look, this fall I'm all about them.
((my nail is broken as well in these pictures, and sorry for slight sloppiness, swatching reds is not for me))

Alix is a strawberry creme, but it reminds me more of an apple. I would say this color has a slight jelly finish. It is also the polish that is close to me beloved Got the Blues for Red.

Asia is described as a red currant creme and is the lightest of the reds in this collection. I really like that these polishes are opaque with two coats. Usually jelly-ish reds aren't. The closest dupes I found to Asia were OPI Vodka & Caviar and Lippmann Stop and Stare. With Stop and Stare being the most similar.

Dakota is a red apple creme. I would say it's more of a cherry red. It's obviously darker than the above two but still red. I have more reds than I know what to do with, but I have been so impressed with Zoya lately that I may get rid of the others and keep these. Red is such a classic color, especially a red creme. Dakota is similar but a hair darker than Carolyn NY Brooklyn.

Riley is a cranberry shade and is a little more pink than my camera picked up here. This was my problem of the group. It was streaky at two coats but three made it perfect. This color reminds me of OPI Marooned on the Magnificent Mile, but since I just sent it to a new home I no longer have it to compare.

Zoya calls Sam a plum brandy creme. In the bottle it looks like baby poo brown but it's so red on the nail. I don't see any purple at all. This is the color that I think is similar to OPI Hollywood & Wine. On the nail they look very close. I added Color Club Feverish in there because it's much darker in the bottle than on the nail.

Nina is called a burgundy wine creme. I say it's a chocolate brown creme, but that's just me. This may be my favorite from the collection. I thought I had a picture comparing it to Priti Polish Widow Iris but I don't. They are pretty much the same polish though.

So not a super exciting collection but I'm just happy that I don't have to get a back up of Got the Blues for Red or Hollywood & Wine. I feel like by getting back ups that I am hoarding. I have more polish than any one woman could possibly use up in a life time. Unless I changed my nail color hourly, which isn't going to happen.

Vibe is up on Zoya.com and don't forget about the Zoya Promo!

Perfectly Polished Tips 68 - Priti Polish

Priti Organic Spa is an 100% eco-friendly spa. They use all natural products for their spa services and manicures and their packing is completely recyclable. Priti polishes do not contain Toluene, Formaldehyde, or DPB's. Their nail polish remover is even made from soy and will take off any brand of polish. They have a pretty big variety of colors as well as a line of minis called Princess polish, which were created by the owner's 7 year old daughter. These polishes are safe for pregnant women and young children.

I chose four polishes based on the chart, I don't reccomend this because you cannot really tell what the color truly looks like. I think many of you prefer to make purchased based on seeing the polish in real life first anyways. The colors I chose ended up being ones that I would have never purchased myself. However after trying them I think I found some new favorites. The application was pretty smooth, a few of them have metallic finishes so I had a lot of visible brush strokes. One of these days I am going to figure out how to avoid them. I got a dark creme as well which had a very streaky first coat but after the second it was fine. The bottles and brushes remind me of the Boys In the Bottle ones, the handle and brush are small which make it slightly awkward to manuver with. It didn't give me too much trouble though.

Cornflower is a metallic royal blue, this picture is two coats of polish in sun light. It's a little more subdued in regular lighting. I love blue but I think I already have something similar however I think I'm going to keep this one based on the application.

I ordered Dreamland Tulip by accident. Priti has a line of mini polishes that even though the color is the same the names are not. When I placed my order I listed the wrong number, I was hoping for a blue but I accidentally ordered the orange underneath. However this color is beautiful, it's not as bright as some of the other oranges I have owned are. It's more on the pink side which I like, I think it works better with my skin tone. I don't do oranges on tips though so either it will be a pedicure color or maybe I will take the orange plunge next summer. You can see the brush strokes but I think the coverage is great.

Ice Maiden Violet is not at all violet, it's a pale baby pink. This color is loaded with brush strokes but it reminds me of the holiday Lippmann I am lemming. I think I'll keep this one instead. This is two coats so for being as light as it is this polish has amazing coverage which I love.

Widow Iris was another I ordered by accident. From the swatch it looked purple but it's actually a deep chocolate brown. This is two coats and there are no streaks at all. I have only owned shimmery browns and I would only swatch and never wear them. This brown I like, it reminds me of Hershey's chocolate. Who doesn't love chocolate? I'm not too sure if it goes with my skin but I like it and will be wearing it, probably tonight.

Overall I really like this brand of polish. Apparently they are chip resistant and you can see how glossy Widow Iris is, there is no top coat in that picture. Priti does not test on animals either. There is a location a few hours away from me and if I ever get the chance I am going to go there to see the colors in person. You can order them online from PritiOrganicSpa.com. The color chart is downloadable at the web site. Priti polishes retail for $12.50 and the Princess line for $10.