Milani Sail Away

I have a serious love affair with shimmery blues. It's ridiculous. Someday I'll have to do a comparison of them all... But I'm about to move back to my parent's for a month while I play for a theatre this summer, so I probably won't have time for a couple months! Just don't let me forget. ;)

Today's shimmery blue is Milani Sail Away. It's freaking gorgeous. They released this and Beach Front in the same collection this spring, and I just died. 

It's a perfect cornflower shade of blue with the most incredible silver shimmer. And the shimmer is not at all shy!

I think this is probably very similar to Sinful Colors Neptune. Unless you're like me and need every shimmery blue ever invented, you'd probably be fine with just one or the other.

Apology Spam

I'm SO SORRY I just took such a long, unintended hiatus! The last few weeks, the blog has just not really been on my radar at all. My husband started a new job, I had a big recital to get ready for, my 30 students have been getting ready for their recitals, and I had several juries to play for during finals week at the university. Even though I'm not in school anymore, it looks like the last couple weeks of the semester still throw me off! PLUS, I just found out last week that I am in fact going back home for the next 5 weeks to play for the theatre's opening show this season, even though two months ago I told them I wasn't going to... that's a long story I'm not going to go into. But basically, I have to spend the next 5 weeks away from my husband & my students & my friends, so I've been trying to fit in as much time as possible. 

All of this is just to say I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, and here is some spammage to hopefully alleviate your anger with me. :)

Zoya Neeka. I'm pretty sure 2 coats, natural light, no topcoat. I've shown her before, but here she is again.

Milani Beach Front. Again, probably 2 coats, no topcoat, natural light. This is super gorgeous.

Milani Electric Pink. They're not joking, this sucker is ELECTRIC. It's also pink in some lightings, but sometime it's more coral, and sometimes it practically looks neon orange. This picture is pretty accurate to its pink hues, though.

OPI I Vant to be A-Lone Star. Pretty gray-blue. It can get a little brush stroke-y for me, but it wasn't too bad.

Zoya Kimmy. This lovely is my husband's favorite, but whenever I try to take pictures of her, they don't turn out right. This is the most accurate I've managed so far. It's a bright, cool red with INCREDIBLE gold shimmer. Like, wow. Just wow. Love.

Pink Wednesday: OPI "If You Pink So..."

Here's a pink wednesday that I don't think anyone has seen before! Or at least, I haven't found any swatches of it...
I went to Beauty Brands to kill some time the other day, and they had a shelf full of this pretty pink. Here's the display...

It's called "If You Pink So..." and it looks like it's a brand new Beauty Brands exclusive. I usually look up swatches before I buy anything, but when I googled this one, absolutely nothing came up! So here you go.

This is a bottle shot I took in the car with my iPhone right after buying it. It's got a really pretty shimmer in it! Blue & pink. (PS, on my nails is one of the OPI sorbets; Guy Meets Galveston, I think?)

These are all 2 coats with no top coat.

This isn't color accurate, but you can see the shimmer a little better.

It's a medium pink with strong blue undertones. I'm currently wearing Essie's Bachelorette Bash on my toes, and they're exactly the same color. Seriously, insanely perfectly matched. So if you know what the Essie looks like, you know what color If You Pink So... is; just imagine it with a really subtle blue & pink shimmer.

What do you think of If You Pink So...? Have you heard of it before? Will you be getting it now?

Essie comparisons

Here's a comparison of some Essie whites: Marshmallow, Waltz, and Allure! I bought them all on separate occasions, because I thought I was getting one level of opacity by looking at the bottle and then it turned out when I got home that I was completely wrong! So if you're in the market for a sheer white polish, hopefully this will help you decide which you want!

One coat

2 coats

Clearly Marshmallow is the one to get if you want something that can be an opaque white. Waltz is sheer but much more opaque than Allure, which is really just a wash of color. They're all fairly streaky; since Marshmallow becomes opaque it wasn't too big a deal, but the other two need fairly thick coats to even themselves out.

On Wednesdays We Wear Pink: OPI Cozu-melted in the Sun

I'm really not much of a dainty, pink, office-appropriate nail-color kind of person. I like greens and blues and bright colors, things that will cheer me up and get people to notice them. But every now and then I need something slightly more demure. Apparently for me, "demure" is something like this...

OPI Cozumelted In the Sun. Husband is a diver and loves Cozumel, so I mostly bought this for the name. But it's also really pretty! It's pink and silver, shimmery/foil, and when I need a break from brights, this is a great place for me to turn. It's what I wore last time I had a really bad break and didn't want to draw attention to my mangled nail.

What's your go-to Neutral-But-Not-Boring color?

Flip Flop Fantasy

I don't think it's possible for a camera to accurately capture Flip Flop Fantasy. It wants to show up like this first picture: peachy.

But that's not accurate in the slightest! This polish is practically radioactive. I wore it on my toes last summer. I got in the pool one evening, and after my feet were deep enough I couldn't see them, I could still see my toenails! It's seriously BRIGHT.

This next picture is in dark of my apartment late at night, lit just by the tv and maybe a computer screen. The polish still stands out!

Zoya Charla

I love Zoya polishes. They're so lovely. And they do this sparkly, glass-flecked, almost-foil-y finish better than anyone else. It's pretty much my favorite thing. Ivanka, Apple, Kimmy, Charla... yummy goodness.
Charla is well-known. She's pretty much the same as OPI Catch Me In Your Net, Orly Haley's Comet, Essence Choose Me...

And an extreme close-up for your viewing pleasure!