St. Patrick Day Greens!!

Hi guys! So tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day, and I have been wearing greens all week to celebrate. Like I've said in the past, the holiday doesn't mean anything to me personally, but I just like to indulge in it. So to get everyone in the spirit, I thought it would be fun to make some green spam.


First one is Diamond Cosmetics Never so Evergreen.

Ottlite, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

    Never so Evergreen is a smoky, faded hunter green, with lots of golden shimmer in it. It's really beautiful and unique, and I love how it looks on my nails. The application was also super easy...two coats of color and a layer of topcoat was all I needed for it to look perfect. 

Next is Zoya Yara.

Ottlite, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Artificial light, with flash.

    Yara was a weird one to capture. It's a dirty olive green with lots of grey in it, and my camera had a hard time balancing those. I guess the true color is right between the ottlite ones and the flash one. But anyway, I wasn't expecting to like Yara very much and really only bought it because it reminded me of one of my favorite queens from RuPaul's Drag Race, Yara Sofia. But when I put it on, I really did like it. The shimmer is really visible and looks great against the base, and the shade of olive itself is fairly flattering, because it doesn't have too much yellow. Formula was also really easy...I only needed two coats of color and one of topcoat. 

Next is Nina Ultra Pro Salsa!

Ottlite, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash

   Salsa is a bold and slightly deep kelly green semi-jelly. The shade of green is really fun and punchy but I think my favorite part of this polish is the finish. It has the opacity and ease of application of a creme, but the jiggly quality and shine of a jelly, and with the shade of green, it makes me happy lol. It just reminds me of springtime and makes me want to skip and dance. I used three coats of polish and a layer of topcoat for the pictures, and Salsa went on pretty smoothly and easily. 

Next is OPI Damone Roberts 1968.

Artificial light, with flash.

Artificial light, with flash.

    Damone Roberts 1968 is a really smooth and creamy mint green creme. It has a good bit of grey, some brown, and a hint of yellow in there too, all of which soften it up and make it much easier to wear with my skin tone. I love how it looks kind of vintage-y but still really modern, and am so glad that I snagged a bottle when it was still available. However, application was tough on this one...I needed four layers of color to get it even and streak-free, and I had to be really careful to apply with a light hand, or there were these annoying divots. So it wasn't fun, but definitely worth all the pain in the end. 

And last, but definitely not least, is Nfu-Oh 569. 

Ottlite, no flash.

Artificial light, with flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

    Nfu-Oh 569 is a blackened forest green jelly. It's known as being a dupe for NARS Zulu, which I guess is accurate, and as such, I lurvee it. It's so sexy and rich, and I love the way that it shines. Wearing it, I feel wicked, but in a good way lol. Application was also pretty easy. I used three layers of polish and a layer of topcoat, and although it kind of took a long time to dry, the polish itself went on fairly well. A little streaky on the first coat, but the next two fixed it. Incidentally, if you are in the market for Zulu, I would actually recommend picking up this one instead. You get more product for less, and Fabulous Street's shipping is much better than NARS'. 

And those are all the greens I have for ya'll today! 

Thanks for reading, and I hope everyone has an amazing St. Patrick's Day!! ^_^

Nina Ultra Pro Swatches

      Ahh these past few days have been such nail fail. I don't know why, but it's like every swatch and every picture is doomed to be terrible. And I found a split in my nail, which made me mad because I haven't gotten one in ages. So I think I'm just not gonna bother with my nails until Friday, and then I'll try again. In the meanwhile, I have a couple of Nina Ultra Pro colors from the backlog. 


First up, there's Never Glum Plum.

Never Glum Plum is a slightly dark purpley-grey creme. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

      lol, I kind of miss these nails. But anyway, Never Glum Plum is a great color. It's a little dark, a little smokey, a little purple-y and a little grey, all of which I like. I also think it's very flattering and chic, especially as a fall and winter mani. 

     Never Glum Plum applied well. I only needed two super smooth layers for opacity, and the formula was pleasantly thin. 

Next is Emerald City. 

Emerald City is a straightforward shimmery emerald green.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

    I applied Emerald City fulling expecting to not like it. It seemed like it would be generic and a little blah, but I think I was wrong about that. In sunlight, it turned out to be much richer and deeper than I expected. However, when I look at Emerald City in comparison to other shimmery greens that I have, I probably won't want to wear it much, just because the actual color isn't as interesting as the others. So it goes in the purge pile. 
    Formula-wise, Emerald City was okay. It was a bit thin, so care was required, but it was opaque in three coats and dried quickly.


And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading, and have a great Wednesday! 

Nina Ultra Pro Unteal You

           Good news, I got a replacement camera! I've been fiddling with it for a few days, I think I understand it well enough to start posting with it, which means that we are back in real time. Yayy! Today, I've got Nina Ultra Pro Unteal You, from what I think is the core collection. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. 

Unteal You is a mid-range, shimmery, teal blue.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

     I really like Unteal You. It's insanely rich and glowy and just looks gorgeous at all times. It's also an excellent candidate for a fall/winter polish, because although it is pretty in the sun, I think it looks better in the shade and indoors. It just looks deeper...like it's smoldering. I can't really explain it that well, but it's hot. I find that there's a big void in my collection when it comes to teal polishes, and Unteal You definitely helps fill that up a bit. 

    Unteal You's formula was typical Nina Ultra Pro stuff. Thin and a tad bit runny, but surprisingly well-pigmented. In the pictures, I'm wearing two coats of polish and one layer of topcoat, and the coverage is perfect. 

   But can someone explain the name to me? Unteal You? I don't get it. :(

And that is all I have for today. Have a great Saturday, ladies!

Nina Ultra Pro Molten Ruby

           Bleh more horrible weather today. Which means more horrible pictures of my current mani, Nina Ultra Pro Molten Ruby. I was planning on putting MAC Bad Fairy on top, but with the weather being what it is, I figured that would be a waste, and decided to just wear this alone instead. I'll probably have to revisit it too.


      But before I get to the pictures, I wanted to talk about something actually important. As we all know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I'm not going to give a big speech, because a bunch of other blogs have talked about how important this month is wayyy better than I ever could. But for my part, I'm going to place a special emphasis on pink polishes this month, and I will also have a link at the top of every page that I am seriously begging everybody to click once daily. For every 45,000 clicks at that site, one woman will get a free mammogram that could save her life. Just think about that...you could help keep one less mother, sister, aunt, cousin, friend, niece, wife, grandmother, and woman from being lost to this horrible disease. All you have to do is literally lift a finger. It really only takes a second, so please click it. And if you have a blog or facebook or whatever, please put the link somewhere on it, so as many people can get access to it as possible. Thanks!!

  Okay, here's Molten Ruby:

Molten Ruby is a shimmery magenta duochrome that flashes an orangey-copper color. However, in most lights and at most angles, I didn't see the duochrome. 

Artificial light, with flash.

This is the magenta that I saw most of the time. It's pretty, but not particularly exciting. 

Natural light, no flash.

And here is when the more duochrome-y look comes out, which is pretty and exciting. I noticed this more in lower lighting. 

Natural light, no flash.

To really see the duochrome, I had to tilt my hands alot.

Natural light, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

             
         Hmmm....Molten Ruby...what can I say about it? It's a pretty polish, although I don't think it looks good on me. The dominant shade of magenta isn't as vibrant as I wanted, and I just don't think it flatters my skin at all. Additionally, it's disappointing that Molten Ruby wasn't a stronger duochrome, because I actually really liked the coppery color. It's so sad that my favorite part of the polish is AWOL about 85% of the time. For these reasons, I probably wouldn't be too keen to wear it by itself...it's quite far from ooglay, but it's not one of my favorites, either. However, I do feel more confident that Molten Ruby will serve as a nice base for Bad Fairy, and it would look great under a Konad pattern. I also think that a thin coat of this would be pretty layered over a black or some other darker color. 
       Application-wise, Molten Ruby was really nice to me. The formula was quite smooth and thin in a good way. Like, it was thin enough to spread easily, but not so thin that opacity was an issue. On the contrary, Molten Ruby was opaque in only two coats, which makes me think that it would also be good for stamping Konad, and not just as a base for a design. 
         
    And that's all I have for today! Have a great night! 

Nina Ultra Pro Purple-Xing

            I've been wanting to do a post about Nina Ultra Pro Purple-Xing for a really long time. I've actually worn it about three or four times, but there was always something interfering with the picture taking...not enough time, dry ugly cuticles, bad weather, couldn't find my camera, a chipped nail, etc. But today, everything happened to work well enough together that I could take pictures. My cuticles still look kind of busted, but that's okay.

Purple-Xing is kind of complicated. It's a mid-range purple jelly base packed with a riot of multi-sized glitter. There's round, square, and hex glitter, and they're silver, violet, and holographic, with some of the larger hex glitter being that like...transparent, opalescent stuff. And then running beneath all that stuff, there's a electric blue shimmer thing going on. It's ridiculously entertaining to look at. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash. 

The second one is blurred a bit to show a little bit of how Purple-Xing sparkles in the light.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

I think you can see a little bit of the blue shimmer thing I mentioned earlier.

      Purple-Xing is one of my favorite purple polishes in my collection. I can't really give it a solid rank, but it's definitely up there. It's just so flashy and fun, and I really appreciate all the thought and work that I'm sure must have gone into this color. And for the money, it's a great value. 

   Application was just okay. Purple-Xing seemed on the watery side to me, so it was a little difficult to control, but that aside, there were no problems. It was perfectly opaque in three coats, but dried a little gritty. I used two coats of Out the Door Topcoat and one layer of Poshe on top to get it perfectly smooth and shiny. Dry time was reasonable as well. I went to sleep 30 minutes after application, and there were no sheet marks, wrinkles, or dings that I could see or feel. And as far as I can tell, it wears fantastically. I wore it for five days at one point, and when I took it off, there was no chipping and barely any tipwear. 

  My only solid gripe about Purple-Xing is the name. Why though? Why name it that? How do you even say it? Purple Crossing? Purple Shing? Purple Exing? Purple Christing? How? I would have been happier if they had named it Purple Glitter. Or even the terrifically overused Purple Rain would have been better. Or Barney's Tweaking. Anything but Purple-Xing.