OPI DS Extravagance

I've been sporting OPI DS Extravagance for the last few days. As I'm sure everyone knows, she is BEAUTIFUL.
I wore her with underwear, so here is a quick shot of Essie Sole Mate. Sole Mate was actually one of my very first polishes, from long before I was into polish. It's a really nice color, though! Two coats on index, and just one on the others. It's a really nice vampy color.

And here is the eye candy!

First, sunlight:

Now flash:

Indirect light:

In the sunlight, Extravagance is just gorgeous scattered holo amazingness. In the shade it's still sparkly and beautiful. It's just such a gorgeous, deep, rich color. "Extravagance" is definitely the word to describe this!

She is my only DS, so right now I can say she's my favorite (until I get my hands on Glamour!). Which DS do you  love most?

Zoya Faye

Continuing the Zoya streak. I swear I own other polish brands! I need to make myself wear something else when I take this off...

Zoya calls Faye "a bronzed mauve with purple and brown undertones flooded with bright gold sparkle.  A unique gilded shade that will work in any season," and they classify it as a purple. I'm definitely going to agree with "purple undertones" and "flooded with bright gold sparkle," but I don't think I would call it a purple at all! I asked my husband what color he thought it was and he said, "Pink? Gold?" and that's pretty much how I feel about it!

Here are a LOT of pictures; I wanted to try to show you all of her faces. All 2 coats. And, as always, clickable to view much larger.

Here's Faye in front front of my window; natural, indirect light.

Here she is in direct sunlight. This is the only time you can see that she isn't as opaque as a cream would be.

This pretty much the ONLY picture I took that showed her as purple!

Indirect sunlight,

direct sunlight,

and shade. She is a mostly-pink with gold shimmer in sunlight, but she is pretty much pure gold in any other light.

I wore her matte last spring, and this is what she looked like then. Beautiful, and much more purple than she is shiny!

Finally, here she is in action. This is while I was a work yesterday. She really comes across as a rose-y, golden foil more than she does a "bronzed mauve with purple undertones."

Do you have Faye? What do you think of her?

Zoya Neeka

I am definitely in a Zoya mood right now. I'm SO excited about the True collection -- not that I'll be able to afford it this month! -- and I ordered Mira & Danii in their promo last week. My collection of polishes is really small in the purple area. To get myself psyched about the polishes coming in the mail, and to try to quench my lust for the purple shimmers in the True collection, I reached for one of the few purples I already have: Zoya Neeka.

 And now, for one million pictures!

Shade

Shade again

Direct sunlight

Indirect sunlight

In my car

One day in with tipwear.
At my work, in gross florescent lighting.
Still pretty!

The shimmer in this is just absolutely gorgeous. And I don't know why I don't own purples, because I think they're lovely!

Last night I was watching the game with my husband's boss's brother, whose wife complimented me on my nails. "What brand is that," she said, "OPI?"
I tried to tell her it's Zoya, a brand that isn't available in this area (we don't have an Ulta or any other store that sells it!) and she seemed really confused. But at least she thought it was pretty! :)

Zoya Crystal take 2

Here are some pictures of Crystal I took while out and about yesterday. They are definitely better than those I posted the other day!

These first two were in the car; for some reason, it's always where I get my best pictures!

These next two were in the apple store; I took pictures of my nails while my husband looked at shiny toys! :)

 And for your viewing pleasure, here is an extreme close-up of Crystal!

Zoya Crystal

My nails have been various shades of red for the last couple weeks. That's REALLY weird for me, because I used to hate red nail polish. hate, hate, hate it. I thought it was cliche and boring, and my nails were in awful shape so red nail polish just made my gross red cuticles look even worse. But lately I have been really loving red polish; it feels more classic than cliche, and my fingers finally look good enough to handle it!
Even so, I needed a break from red. So yesterday I picked a couple colors I hadn't worn in a while, turned to my husband who picked blue over purple, and painted my nails with the lovely Zoya Crystal!

 

Here is 2 coats of Crystal. She was pretty at this point, but in certain angles in the sun, I could see major vnl & streaks. so I added one more coat and got this deeper, richer beauty!

3 coats in indirect sunlight

3 coats in direct sunlight

So pretty. Crystal is the perfect winter shade: it's an icy shade of blue that evokes cold weather for me; it's a dusty enough blue that it doesn't seem out of place; and it definitely gives us the sparkly we want!

And now for something kind of funny... This is from last May. First, my nails are short and ugly, so ignore that! But this is what happens when you don't get your nailbed completely clean before applying your polish.

It's magical peeling polish!

In other news, I'm trying to decide which Zoyas to get in their latest promo. I'm definitely thinking purple, but I'm not sure if I want to go light & pastel (Caitlin) or rich & vibrant (Mira). Maybe I'll just have to get 2 purples. I do know that I want most of the True collection, but they are very smart & made sure this promo runs until just before True is available for purchase. Which Zoyas are you buying this time around?

Two manis with Essie Mesmerize

I've been feeling under the weather the last few days, so I'm still rocking my NYE mani. And because I haven't been doing much of anything, it's still flawless! But in the meantime, here is an older mani for your viewing pleasure!

Here is Essie Mesmerize. I am a total sucker for a blue polish. This is what I was wearing at the beginning of our honeymoon. There's actually kind of a funny story about it... We went on a cruise, and on the first day of a cruise everyone has to participate in "muster," where you figure out where you're supposed to go in case of disaster. They fit way too many people in not nearly enough room, so you end up standing really close to total strangers. The lady standing next to me noticed my nails and said, "Oh, I just love that blue! I wish I could wear blue, but my husband only lets me wear reds and pinks."
After muster, I turned to my husband and said, "Thank you for letting me wear whatever color I want on my nails." What fun would nail polish be if we were stuck with just reds and pinks? I can't imagine!

And here's another mani I did a couple months later with Mesmerize. For this, I sponged Zoya - Charla onto the tips. If you click to enlarge this, you can see how interesting Charla is. I love her so dang much.

Why do you think "normal people" (ie, people not obsessed with polish like we are!) are so scared of "unusual" polish colors?

OPI Wocka Wocka -- Matte!

My first mani of the new year isn't really; it's just a redux of the last mani from 2011! Because let's be honest: every glitter mani needs some matte love.

 

  First in the sun, then in the shade.

Like this, Wocka Wocka looks almost like velvet. I love it!