OPI Lights of Emerald City

Even though my polish was getting a little worn, been installing laminate wood floors in my bf's rental house, I couldn't help but play with at least one of the new polishes I picked up on clearance yesterday at Ulta.
This is OPI Lights of Emerald City, a nifty glitter topper with small gold iridescent square glitter and white square glitters that are a bit larger. I'd looked at getting this one before, but for $.78 I had to bring it home!

There was nice glitter coverage, I used one coat. I played around with the white squares just a bit so they weren't overlapping. I could have gotten more on my nails, but it was getting late and I figured this would do. I'm impressed with how smooth the polish dried, no corners sticking up that I can tell and it didn't take long to dry either. I give it 4 stars! It'll be fun to play with over different base colors.

Sinful Colors Nail Junkie & Finger Paints Our Tips are Tealed

I think the two of these match really well, this is two coats of Finger Paints pretty glittery Our Tips are Tealed topped with one coat of Sinful Colors Nail Junkie- a gorgeous glitter with lots of cool-toned iridescent glitter.
Both polishes applied so well, truly a pleasure to use. Nail Junkie dried with just the *slightest* texture, so I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri to smooth things out.

Funky Fingers Sand & Stilettos and China Glaze Rendezvous with You

Today I have another really cool Funky Fingers polish, Sand & Stilettos. This is the most holographic glitter I think I have! I mean, other ones are blingy as well like OPI Which is Witch, but for a uniformly-shaped-glitter topper, this one will be hard to beat. There's some silver glitter thrown in there too!

I layered one coat of Sand & Stilettos over one coat of China Glaze Rendezvous with You and topped everything with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri to smooth everything out nice.

OPI Green on the Runway

So I know I keep saying how much I love the polishes I've been wearing lately... well, here's another one! lol

This is OPI Green on the Runway, their Sprite-inspired offering from the recent Coca-Cola collaberation. I so rarely purchase a brand-spankin' newly released polish, but I HAVE NO REGRETS!
Green on the Runway is probably my most duochrome-y duochrome, you can truly see both the metallic green *and* brown at the same time on each nail. The others I have, it seems you have to have your nails at a particular angle to see the change, but not this one! Oh no, this baby's not playing around!
The formula is darn near a one-coater, but two coats made the color nice and rich... and of coarse application was a breeze. I did use Insta-Dri on top, but just because I knew I'd want to keep this polish on for as long as possible.
I'm resisting SO BAD getting multiple bottles, but let's be honest... as soon as I see them in a store, they'll be coming home. I'd just hate for this to turn into one of those polishes that become difficult to find and expensive... because yeah, I'm pretty sure I'll always need to have a bottle or two of this gorgeous color on hand.

Funky Fingers Saved by the Glitter

And here's yet another combination that I just LOVE!
This look started with a Victoria's Secret polish, White Hot. I then layered a generous coat of Funky Fingers awesome Saved by the Glitter over top. There's neon pink and blue and white glitter... all good!
And just because I couldn't stop there, I added a layer of Sally Hansen irridescent glitter Disco Ball. Adding Disco Ball looked amazing in person, not so much in photos unfortunately.
And then of course we have Insta-Dri top coat to seal everything in. This was fun to wear... I'll definitely be rocking this look again in the not-too-distant future.

Funky Fingers Jawbreaker & NY Color Pink Champagne

I like this combo, I think it turned out pretty... lots of layers though...

I started with a coat of China Glaze Dandy Lyin' Around (shimmery white) to start getting a white base going.

Then came the nifty polish I wanted to highlight, Funky Fingers Jawbreaker. There are multicolor hex glitters in a white base, the hexes are small and medium sizes and there is small finer glitter mixed in as well.

The glitter ended up being a bit bright for the look I wanted, I was going for something a bit more subtle. Kinda funny when we're talking about multicolor glitter I know, but... yeah. So here comes two layers of NY Color Pink Champagne which is very sheer, but has a nice pink hue and a touch of shimmer as well.

Not one to stop there, I added a layer of China Glaze Fairy Dust... because pretty!
And since all this would have taken forever to dry, I ended things with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri. Woot!

Funky Fingers Midge

Yet another gorgeous polish from my awesome haul at 5 Below- this is Funky Fingers Midge.

Coverage was opaque in two easy coats and the holographic glitter in this maroon jelly really is apparent. I think it would stand out even more with a thick layer of topcoat, the polish dries down to a subtle gritty texture.
I have no qualms wearing this one to work... though I did wear those neons yesterday. : P
But that was at my normal, doesn't get a lot of traffic post, and where I'm working today requires a bit more professionalism.

Fresh Paint Guava, Honeydew, & Glitter Matters

SQUUEEEEEE!! I LOVE these polishes!
I first saw these fun colors on the wicked funny polish blog, Little Bottles of Love .
This was ONE coat each of Fresh Paint Guava (neon coral), Honeydew (light lime green), and Glitter Matters (pink/yellow/white glitter topper). I'm so, so impressed by the cremes especially given how close to neon they are... my other neons are streaky and difficult to apply.
These colors make me happy and most definitely scream summer!

Funky Fingers Olaf & Pure Ice Hit the Floor

Thanks to some lovely blogs, I discovered 5 Below carries some awesome polishes... never knew!

I bought a whole bunch and the first I tried out is this lovely white/holographic glitter from their Frostbitten (aka 'Frozen') collection. This polish is named Olaf. : )
The glitter went on easily and dried very smooth, didn't take very long to dry either! The white snowflakes in the polish will take some work to get out of the bottle, but I was fine with just the white hexes and holo glitter over the red. Gives off a bit of a candy cane vibe... Either way, it's a great polish to liven up some polish you've already been wearing for a day or too like I had been with Pure Ice Hit the Floor.

Pure Ice Hit the Floor

This beauty is Pure Ice Hit the Floor, it's only a couple dollars at WalMart- which is awesome! Yay for pretty colors at low prices!
I used two coats then topped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri. The first coat went on easily, it seemed my bottle started getting goopy when applying the second though. Good thing I'm expecting some thinner any day now!

This looks very similar to China Glaze Ruby Pumps. I don't own Ruby Pumps, but this looks darn near identical. A perfect red with small red glitter... I don't know if I've ever actually worn red before, the reds always seemed flashy and too lady-like? But I love this one, it's a deep, rich red and the sparkle is fun. It's also the only polish I own that my bf really loves... so instead of a special song, we have a special polish? lol I'm ok with that.

This photo shows how deep the red really is...

Outside in bright light...

China Glaze Galactic Gray

Gah, I seriously need to even out my nail length... they're even bugging me in person. Anywhoo, this is China Glaze Galactic Gray from their Hologlam collection.

I love these polishes; they're pretty colors, apply nicely, and dry very quickly. I tend to get tip wear easily when wearing them though. They're easy to remove, so I guess that may just go with the territory. I'm sure it doesn't help that this is just one coat with no base or top coat... bad, I know. True story, I played around with different polishes last night for so long that when it got too late I just had to throw something on that I knew would dry quickly and wouldn't annoy me at work the next day.

The Hologlam polishes don't have an extreme holographic nature, but I still like them, they're more subtle and sometimes that's just what's needed.
Something to note, and maybe it's just my bottle, but my Galactic Gray is way thicker than any of the other colors from this collection I have. It still applied well and dried quickly, but I may need to add some thinner eventually.

Pure Ice Laven-Dare

Here's a quick swatch of Pure Ice Laven-dare. It's a great color, it's a little bit more lilac than the photo shows, but it definitely rides the line between grey and lilac/light blue.
The formula wasn't terrible to use, this is two coats I think. I didn't make notes when I swatched, but that looks like a layer of LA Girl Burst glitter on my ring finger... one of my favorite glitter toppers.

OPI Love.Angel.Music.Baby.

OPI Love.Angel.Music.Baby. is just a great polish... formula is super easy to manipulate, wonderfully opaque, and dries quickly to a pretty satin-matte finish.

I played around with different glitters and polishes last night and I kept coming back to this one to wear... it's clean and simple without being boring. Not having to wait forever for it to dry is a huge bonus, too!
This is two easy coats, no top coat needed.

just because...

My little girl-cat Padme is such a mess, she loves digging around in my makeup drawer whenever I leave it open and apparently she's a fan of the polishes in my Helmer as well...

Some day I'll get a second screw to attach the bottom handle, it only came with one. One project at a time though... I'm quite pleased with myself for making some simple drawer dividers the other night. Now all the colors aren't mixed together any more.

Top drawer: Pinks/Reds/Oranges & Yellows
Second drawer: Greens/Blues/Purples
Third drawer: Silvers & Blacks/Whites & Pearl/Golds & Neutrals
Fourth drawer: China Glaze Hologlam collection & top and base coats
Fifth drawer: Cotton pads for polish removal, files, extra dividers
Bottom drawer: Duplicate bottles of my favorite polishes and apparently a small cat.

Sally Hansen Indi-Glow & Finger Paints Art of Theft

I love this combination! I began with a layer of Finger Paints Art of Theft, a pretty dark blue, then topped it with the Sally Hansen glitter Indi-Glow.
Indi-Glow is just so darn gorgeous, a dark blue jelly base with small green glitters that seem to be iridescent. The formula leaves a bit to be desired, the base is pretty gloopy. The glitter spreads easily though, it definitely makes a better topper than using it by itself I think. I still used Sally Hansen Intsa-Dri to seal everything and speed up dry time though.

Finger Paints Enchanted Winter

Pretty!!
Sally Beauty was having a large clearance sale and I picked up a bunch of great polishes at amazing prices. This lovely polish, Finger Paints Enchanted Winter, cost a whopping $1.34. Yay!

The formula is just perfect, super easy to apply and dries quickly. I used two coats, waiting for the first to dry a bit before applying the second. The color is a glittery bronze, with multicolored specks of micro glitter throughout. Next time I'll try putting some top coat on, I've seen swatches where that looked lovely as well.

China Glaze Bat My Eyes

At the Sally Beauty sale, I finally picked up a bottle of China Glaze Bat My Eyes. I had passed by it before, but for less than $2, it needed to come home with me. : )
The formula is glitter intense, gold in a black base with some small orange bar glitter thrown in for good measure.
I used two coats and despite the formula being pretty thick, it was easy to control. It dried pretty quickly to a semi-glossy finish and then I used a layer of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri to seal everything in and up the glossiness.