155. China Glaze - Fancy Pants

Fancy Pants is a blue-toned purple with magenta shimmer running throughout.  In the bottle, I thought I would love this immensely.  However, it kind of disappointed me on the nail.  The shimmer is not as apparent on the nails as in the bottle.  I was hoping for a bit more of a wow factor, but ah well, this is how it goes.

More accurate to color.

Formula was nice on this polish.  It was almost opaque in one coat, but I used 2 coats for this swatch.

153. China Glaze - Mimosa's Before Mani's

Mimosa's Before Mani's was one of the polishes I was looking forward to most from CG's spring collection!    Usually I don't like pinks too much, but if it leans peach or coral, I gotta have it!  Mimosa's is a peachy pink/coral with golden shimmer. And we all know how I am about that golden shimmer :)  The golden shimmer isn't really that apparent (especially in the picture below), but it does give the polish a slight glow, making the color a little warmer.

This color leans a little too peach.  Imagine a touch of orange in this swatch.

In most lights, it leans more orange.  My boyfriend even thought I was just wearing an orange polish on my toes :P  I can see myself wearing this a lot this year on my toes.  I love bright colors on my toes!  Even if I can only wear open-toed shoes 1-2 times a week, my polish will be cute :)

This swatch shows 2 thick coats, but 3 thin ones would probably be better.  The formula wouldn't self level, but topcoat takes care of all that.

150. Sinful Colors - Mint Candy Apple

Lately I've really been loving mint polishes.  I know, I know, I'm a little late to this party.  Anyways, Mint Candy Apple is a lovely mint green with shimmer.  In most lights, the shimmer is silver, but direct lighting makes it light up golden!  Love it!

More color accurate :)

More to show off the shimmer.

Like most mints, the formula was a bit patchy.  Nothing unmanageable though.  This is 2 thick coats of MCA.

149. China Glaze - Custom Kicks

Custom Kicks is one of my favorite polishes.  It's an aqua cream with sparse gold shimmer.  I saw aqua because the base color is a little too green to be teal.  Of course, I love the gold shimmer.  It gives the polish a little hidden sparkle to it.  In most lights, it's not really that apparent, but the polish gains just a little more life.  I think the shimmer makes it look as if sunlight is reflecting off the surface of a still lake.

Formula-wise, this polish was good.  It covers perfectly in 2 coats, with no balding or patchiness.  However, Custom Kicks stains like no one else's business.  I still have the stains from wearing it.

148. China Glaze - Midtown Magic

Midtown Magic is a polish I wore late last quarter.  Midtown Magic looks like a chocolate brown shimmer in the bottle, but it is so much more than that!  Well, I guess in these pictures, it does look just like a warm brown with gold shimmer.  And it's absolutely beautiful that way.  But during application, the first coat shows that this polish has a plummy purple undertone.  I kind of wish I took a picture of it at one coat.  Oh well, it's beautiful after it reaches opacity.  It kind of reminds me of fizzy coke :)

However, the formula leaves a little to be desired.  It's thin and watery, making it a little difficult to control.  Coverage on the first coat is very patchy, and drags on the second.  If you're really careful and have a light hand during application, 2 coats will work for opacity.  However, I had to use 3 due to some bald patches.

135. Zoya - Nidhi

Nidhi is quite the firecracker of a polish!  Nidhi is a bright red, almost scarlet, polish with gold shimmer running thoughout it.  If you know me in real life or have been reading this blog for a while, you know that I absolutely LOVE gold shimmer in polishes.   So when I first saw this polish, I KNEW I had to get my hands on it.  

I have to admit though, after wearing it, I am slightly disappointed by the fact that many of the gold shimmers turned to an almost red color.  Oh well, can't have it all; it's still beautiful, regardless.

The formula of Nidhi was quite good, if I remember correctly.  It was just fluid enough to control easily, but not so watery as to flood my cuticles.  This is good, since usually Zoyas (especially their creams), are usually on the thick side.  But this is probably why the opacity of their polishes are second to none!  I believe this is two coats, no top coat.

128-131. Sally Hansen - Sorbet, Sky, Sea, Whisper

Hey lovelies!  Today I'll be showing you some polishes from the Sally Hansen Smooth & Perfect line.  I got these polishes on clearance at a Walgreens one day.  I suppose they were clearing out room for new stock.  

This line claims to fill ridges and hide imperfections, as well as promote healthier nails with ingredients such as ginseng. camelia oil, and lotus.  While I can't say much towards the claim about healthy nails, I can admit they do hide ridges and imperfections.  However, each of these polishes are at least 3 coats (in some cases, 4); with that many coats, any polish can hide ridges and imperfections.  Each of these polishes are a pastel color with a hidden (or not so hidden) shimmer.  I would call their finish pearly, rather than shimmer.

First up is Sky, a pale baby blue with shimmer.  The color of this polish is lovely and the shimmer in this polish is plentiful, giving an especially pearly appearance to this blue.  It's a little bit too pearly for me though.  I can also see some brushstrokes from my application, so not exactly a favorite of mine.

Next up is Whisper, a pale lilac polish.  It's a bit too pink for my liking, but a perfectly soft and girly color.  The shimmer in this one was less apparent, but the formula was a bit more sheer.  I believe this is 4 coats.

This lovely color here is Sea, a very very pale minty green.  I actually really like this color, despite the lobster hands it gives me.  As you can see, the shimmer in this one is also a little less noticeable.

Last is Sorbet, a peachy polish with a very (very!) subtle shimmer. The shimmer only comes out in direct lighting though, so it looks like a cream in normal indoors lighting.  The coverage leaves a little bit to be desired.  At 3 coats, there is still some VNL.  However, today I have nubbins, so the VNL is not visible.  You definitely need 3 coats for this color though.  At two, the color was still streaky.  I like how the color almost blends into my skin tone.  It looks very squishy and yummy!

I had doubts about all these polishes and how I would like them, but surprisingly I'm going to keep Sorbet and Sea.  I love the colors of those two (I swear, peach and mint are my colors this year).  The other two, I think I'm going to give away though.

Each of these polishes had a lovely consistency, not too watery, but not thick either.  I did not experience any dragging, and application was a breeze (aside from the fact that I had to apply 3+ coats).  With my short nails, opacity wasn't a problem, but I could imagine more VNL with longer nails.  All of these swatches are without topcoat, so they indeed dry nice and smooth and shiny.

126. Essence - Grey-t to be Here

Grey-t to be Here (what a strange name) is a clean, blue-toned grey with pink shimmer.  The color is adorable, it kind of reminds me of a cozy cashmere sweater.  The pink shimmer adds a touch of softness to the color as well.  I love contrasting shimmer in polish!

The formula was kind of thick.  Next time I'll definitely be putting thinner in this.  The very tips of my nails felt chunky.

This is three coats, and you can kind of see the thickness at the tips.  At three coats, still shows a tiny bit of VNL, so I think next time I'll use Zoya Dove as a base color.

120. Orly - Fowl Play

WOW.  I've finally got this polish!  I'm so glad to be getting such a long time lemming at long last.  And it has certainly met my expectations!

In case you guys haven't heard of this wonderful polish, Fowl Play is a lovely red-based purple jelly polish with color shifting flakies (much like Essie Shine of the Times, Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure, etc) with purple shimmer and a sparse blue-purple shimmer running throughout.  It's quite magical and gorgeous and I am in love!  I really love the touch of blue-purple shimmer, it adds a whimsical touch to the polish!

My original lemming wasn't actually Fowl Play though.  Originally I wanted OPI Merry Midnight.  But after discovering that it was HTF and only available on e(vil)bay, I almost gave up hope.  Not too long after, Orly released this beauty, which is almost an exact dupe if comparisons online are correct.

This last picture is an experiment I did.  Originally I did two coats of Fowl Play, but then I wondered how Shine of the Times would look on top.  The green shift of SotT kind of put me off the combination, but then I layered another coat of Fowl Play on top and it almost looked like the original, but with denser flakies.  So if Fowl Play isn't enough flaky goodness for you, you know what to do now :)

Swatch (2nd pic) is 2 coats.  2 coats is good and opaque, but a 3rd coat definitely helps deepen the color and intensifies the magical purple shimmer.

105. Essence - Walk on the Wild Side

I may not have a Halloween mani (my Halloween's been pretty lackluster and depressing this year), but the least I can give everyone is a little swatch :)

Walk on the Wild Side is dusty dark olive green with gold and green shimmer.  This is one of the new Essence colors, and let me say that I absolutely love this color!  It comes to life in the sun, and the colors are just so warm and earthy (I've grown very fond of earth tones in the last half year).  I would say that this is a perfect fall color, muted but at the same time, vibrant...if that makes any sense.

This post is kinda pic-heavy, so read more after the jump!

94. Sinful - What's Your Name?

What's Your Name is a black creme with small duochrome glitter/shimmer.  The glitter shifts from a teal to a deep blue to a magenta-purple, such an amazing color shift...in the bottle.  On the nail, it's not so apparent and kind of falls a bit flat.  It pretty much looks like a black cream in most lights.  I believe that I might be able to get the same kind of effect (that was in the bottle) by layering OPI's I Juggle...Men over black, but we shall see.

Formula was decent on this polish; it was a two-coater.  However, I had application problems due to a wonky brush.  The brush just wouldn't glide over my nail, and as a result, it tended to drag the polish.  If I put on an extremely thick layer, it wouldn't drag, but then I would get cuticle flooding.

93. China Glaze - Flirty Tankini

Whew!  I've waited a long time for this polish.  I can honestly say that this is my first neon polish.  Flirty Tankini looked like it was just a plain pink-coral cream, but in reality it has this nice, fine shimmer running throughout it.  Like most neons, this polish dries matte, which I don't really like in a shimmer, but it can be appealing in some circumstances.  Honestly, I can say that I'm a little disappointed by this polish.  I was expecting more of a coral color, but on my skin it looks more like a barbie pink.  Maybe Pink Plumeria would be a better fit...Also, the smell of this polish is really bad, rivaling that of KleanColor's.

This swatch is 2 coats, although it could probably have used a third.  Formula was a bit watery, and I could see that the polish's shimmer tends to settle; so I guess it could still be a cream if you wanted it to be.

PS:  I wonder if you guys noticed I changed my lightbox set up.  The background is now black, which I find makes my pictures a little more color-accurate.  That, and this looks pretty class, don't you think?

81. Orly - Royal Navy

STILL NOT PART OF THE CHALLENGE.  I know, I'm procrastinating, but life's still pretty busy, even though it's summer.  I'm taking a class, working a part-time job, and researching in a chem lab, essentially working 8 hours a day.  Bear with me though!  I'll make it worth your while :)

Royal Navy is a gorgeous royal blue jelly with a bright blue shimmer.  I first heard about it from Kittytokaren at Polish or Perish, and once I saw the swatch, I knew I had to have it.  It's quite a curious polish, since it could either be a plain jelly or a shimmery jelly.  By that, I mean that the shimmer settles quite a bit, so if you let it settle all the way, the polish will come out as a plain jelly.  However if you shake it (a lot), the shimmer comes into play.  Quite gorgeous either way.

Rich, gorgeous color!

Application was wonderful on this polish.  Here shown is 3 coats, since the polish is a little on the sheer side.  It was quite easy to apply, with very little clean up needed.  Wear time is excellent; I've had this polish on since Wednesday, and I'm still wearing it as I write this post (Tuesday).  There is only tipwear at this point, no chips.  Since Wednesday, I've gone through my daily routines normally, except for Sunday, which was race day.  Dragonboat races usually mean I have my hands soaked in salt water half the day, so the fact that this polish didn't chip was quite the achievement!  I actually have a lot of pictures I like from this polish, so there are more pictures after the jump!

80. Zoya - Midori

NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT PART OF THE CHALLENGE.  Still haven't gotten on it, it's been a busy weekend.

Midori is a bright green with gold shimmer running throughout it.  Such a gorgeous color, and easy to apply, as well.  It makes me very happy looking at it!  Seems like a very summery color, fitting since it is definitely summer up here in Davis.

This picture's kind of overexposed.  Imagine a more yellow, more saturated green.

Application and formula were good.  I had no problems with balding or streaking.  Shown is 2 coats.

78. Essence - a lovely secret

Hey guys!  Today I'm wearing "a lovely secret" (there were no capital letters on the bottle label), a blue-toned lavender with shimmer.  I was quite disappointed by this polish.  In the bottle, there is this bright flash of warm-toned purple shimmer, but it falls completely flat on the nail.  What I see is a bunch of dark specks on the base color, instead of the lovely purple shimmer that I was expecting.  Unexpectedly, the pictures show more shimmer than I see in real life (which is none).  It looks kind of like a bird's egg, and while that's a cool look, it's not really what I want in a polish.  So looks like this one's going to the swap bin!

Under diffused light, so you can see the 'specks' better.  And a slight hint of that lighter shimmer!

The polish is actually a little more blue-toned and greyed out than this.

Formula was good on this polish.  It was very easy to control, but a bit on the sheer side.  What I'm wearing is 3 coats of a lovely secret topped with Poshe.  Right now, the sheerness is kind of hard to see since my  nails are still nubbins, but if I had free edges, I'd bet that there'd be some major VNL.

77. Zoya - Cassi

Cassi is a wonderful peachy-pink creme!  As you all know, I normally don't wear pink, but the peach tones in this polish make it way more wearable for me!  It also helps that it has that gold shimmer I love so much!  I didn't like this polish so much in the bottle.  The shimmer looked like those iridescent shimmers that make polishes look more cool toned; however on the nail, the shimmer is a lovely gold that gives the polish a flattering warm tone!

Shown with Poshe topcoat.

Other swatches online indicate that this is a really sheer polish, but while I thought it was a little on the sheer side for a Zoya, it reached opacity for me in 3 coats.  However, my nails are tiny nubbins right now, so I don't have any problems with VNL obviously.

69. Zoya - Uli

Uli is a pink-toned nude with golden shimmer.  Looking at it in the bottle, it looks nowhere close to my skin tone.  However, when it's on my tips, it's like I have mannequin hands...I think I've found The One!  Yayyyyyy!    The gold shimmer really gives a warm tone to this polish.  Uli is kind of similar to Fast Track and Irreplaceable, but I'm not sure how close.  I guess I'll do a comparison later.

 A bit warm toned, but shows off the shimmer perfectly!

Sorry about the dry cuticles!  I think these pics were taken during midterms season; handcare time is very limited...

Formula was a tiny bit runny and streaky, but nothing a little careful polishing can't prevent.  This is 2 coats of Uli, no topcoat.

64. China Glaze - Fast Track

Hey guys!  Here's the start of me catching up with all my posts!  I've been busy with working, working out,  and studying, but my nails have not been neglected!  (It's just that editing pictures and writing posts takes time)  Fast track is a warm-toned nude with gold shimmer.  The gold shimmer also occasionally flashes green and orange.  Gorgeous!  While I was wearing this, I could not stop admiring my nails xD  This polish is actually very similar to Essence Irreplaceable, but Fast Track is a lot more tan-colored, and Irreplaceable is more sand-colored.  I'll do a comparison sometime in the future to show you guys :)Cool-toned nude with gold shimmer that flashes green and orange.  comparable to essence irreplaceable.

Formula was a little watery and sheer, but with this polish, it's not all too noticeable.  The watery formula was very easy to control.  This is 2 coats, no topcoat.

58. Zoya - Yara

I wore Yara for DRD's banquet on Sunday!  I wore this, since I wanted something gold and green to go with my black dress (plus, the bf was wearing a green shirt, almost like the base color of this polish).  The banquet was really fun, the first formal event DRD's had in a long time!

Okay, back to the polish.  The base color of Yara is a dusty olive green.  There are gold and green glitters dispersed throughout the polish, almost looking like a glass fleck polish.  But these aren't glass flecks, and the glitter is not fine enough to be a shimmer.  I really like this polish!  It's muted, but not boring, and the gold brings a little something different to the table.  All the warm undertones are really flattering on my yellow skin :)

Zoya's formula is usually superb, and this one doesn't disappoint either.  Two beautifully smooth, opaque coats shown in this picture.  More pics after the jump!  I liked this polish way too much to choose only 2 pics!

57. Zoya - Kotori

Kotori is a sultry smoking polish!  She's so gorgeous (I feel weird referring to a polish as a woman, but hey, all these polishes have female names).  Kotori is a mostly blue shimmer in a smoky grey (jelly?) base.  I say mostly because at certain angles you can see some random green shimmer, as well as a darker blue shimmer.  The green, sadly, doesn't show up in the pictures.  There's so much depth to this!  It's not quite a duochrome, but there's something special going on here.  I got this during the Earth day promo and I think I've found my new favorite!  It kind of reminds me of brand new, dark-wash jeans :)

Look at that duochrome-y goodness!  I actually think that the duochrome is caused by the sheer grey base, because in real life the duochrome is not that apparent.  So I don't think it's a legit duochrome.

Application was a breeze, with average drying time.  Formula's a bit thin, but that's perfect for a slightly sheer polish like this one. This is 3 coats in the pictures, but I've actually worn it with 2 coats, and it's perfectly fine that way as well.  Three coats would be best if you want intense color, two is fine if you just want a little something on your tips.