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.

Like a Jolly Rancher~

Hey guys!  The end of the quarter and finals have been kicking my ass, but I'll soon all be able to do nails to my heart's content (and play video games, work on DIY projects, read...).  I say this every quarter, but I can't wait for this quarter to be over!  Until then, I will be posting manis from a little while ago.

Now that I've tried a jelly sandwich, I just wanna do more of them!  It's such an interesting look, and so simple to do!

I finally got to try out White Veil, sent to me by the lovely Raechelly!  Thank you so much for this awesome polish :)

I believe that this is 4 coats of Zoya Frida, with a coat of White Veil in between each coat of Frida and one on top.  8 layers of polish, baby!  I really do like how this mani came out :)

96. Zoya - Katherine

Katherine is one of those polishes that I was extremely excited to buy.  Before this, I owned no jellies, but I loved how they looked on other bloggers' nails.  Glad to say that this color didn't disappoint!  I can't stop looking at my nails!  It's like...I can see my natural nail, but at the same time, not really.  I understand why people love jellies!  To me, Katherine is the exact color of red grapes, yum!

This was my first time applying a jelly polish by itself, and I gotta say, it's a bit tricky.  Since I have very ridged nails, it is extremely hard to get an even coat of color.  I can even see now that it's not completely even.  Like always, I applied too thick of a coat, and the subsequent coats were patchy.  Luckily it turned out decent enough! ^^;;

This is 3 thick coats of Katherine, but next time I'll probably aim for 4 thinner coats.  The formula was a bit watery, but that might just be the nature of jelly polishes (Zoya's creams are usually on the thicker side).  It was quite easy to control; this pic is without clean-up!

Jawbreakers!

This monster of a beauty is the result of having too much time and being alone at home (no boyfriend to tell me to stop polish my nails, teehee!).  This was my first time trying a jelly sandwich, and I can honestly say that I'm very pleased with the results!  I really like how this looks; my nails look like something like those giant white jawbreakers that are speckled with color or like ice cream covered with sprinkles (thanks to all my friends for the creative descriptions).

To see how I accomplished this look, read after the jump!

90. Diamond - Drift Away

Drift Away is a gorgeous dusty red-toned purple.  This was a gorgeous color, and it was very easy to photograph as well.  This might even be a jelly, based on my application.  The pictures pull the color a tiny bit redder than it is in real life, but nothing too dramatic.  This polish dries really glossy, and it looks so pretty!

Despite the lovely color, the application was kinda horrible.  There was a decent amount of dragging, and I needed 3 coats to even everything out.  Despite this, I will be keeping this polish.  I will just have to be more careful with application in the future :)

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!

79. Jessica - Stark Naked

Hey guys!  Today I'm showing you guys my mannequin hands!  Aren't they lovely? (LOL I'm kidding, they're alright)  I would have been more comfortable if this color was a bit more opaque, but it kind of looks nice sheer.  I'm going to call this polish a jelly, rather than a sheer, just judging by the opaqueness we see here.  I'm glad I found my mannequin color; even though I don't really go for these neutral kind of looks.  This color is definitely a good color to have, just for occasions where you want your hands to look clean, but you can't wear an outrageous color.

This is 3 coats of Stark Naked over Essie's Fill The Gap basecoat, no topcoat.  It dries rather shiny and squishy looking on its own.  Formula was good, there was very minimal streaking and balding.  However, I feel like the polish is not completely dry, despite the fact that it's been an entire day since I did this mani.

45. China Glaze - Atlantis

Atlantis is a gorgeous teal jelly with a chunky holo glitter in it.  If you look in the sun, this polish is actually a really chunky linear holo.  The name is really fitting, as this polish reminds me of glittering treasures submerged in deep, mysterious, tropical waters.  It's actually really sheer, and kind of accentuates the yellow in my natural nail color.  Other than that though, it's really pretty, and I think I'll really enjoy this manicure.  It's been really hot and sunny lately, and I'm sure that this polish will be a stunner in the sun this polish really shines in the sun!  It's actually a really chunky linear holo (sadly, I haven't gotten any pictures, but it's true)!!! It dries surprisingly smooth for a chunky glitter, as well as really fast.

First two coats were streaky, third evened it out, and the fourth (a thick coat) definitely added to the opacity of the polish.  Formula was good, good distribution of glitters, a little bit on the watery side.  However, I'm not really happy with this...the polish chipped only after one day of wear!  D:

Such a pretty polish...I couldn't choose just 1 or 2 pictures, so there's more...

44. Revlon - Whimsical

A couple of days ago, Whimsical is what I had on my nails!  It's a really pretty color...baby blue jelly base with pink and blue large hex and small glitters.  It was a lot sheerer than I thought it would be, but it was still really pretty on my nails.  I didn't really mind it being sheer, surprisingly.  It actually makes your natural nails look clean; I'm guessing it's the blue base that's countering my yellow nails.

Application was good, a tiny bit streaky, but after 3 coats it evened out.  Shown is 4 coats with Poshe on top.

And since it was so pretty, I couldn't choose just 1 or 2 pics.  So there's a couple more after the jump!

39. Revlon - Royal

Revlon Royal is famous throughout the nail-blogging community!  It's a bright, saturated, royal blue jelly. Considering how much I like jellies (and how few of them I actually have), I just had to have this one!  And boy, it did not disappoint.  This was such a bright, yet deep color, and I quite enjoyed having it on my nails :)

Application was easy.  This here is 2 coats of this beauty, no topcoat.  There were no issues with streaking or dragging whatsoever.  Formula was a little waterier than expected, but nothing too bad.  Watch out for the staining on this one though!  Took me forever to get the pigment out of my cuticles.

35. Dating a Royal/Nail Art - Midnight Half Moons

Dating a Royal is a gorgeous deep blue jelly.  Admittedly, I'm not very good at telling the difference between creams and jellys yet (which is a sign I need more jellys), but other swatches and my experience applying this suggest that it is indeed a jelly.  I absolutely LOVE this color!  It's very flattering on my skin, and it is such an elegant color without being too soft.  When I saw the bottle, I knew I just HAD to have it.  And I'm glad I did get it, it's one of my go-to polishes.  It makes me very calm when I look at it, and I could just stare at it for days :)  And the fact that it's a jelly means that it has a lot of extra depth and that special squishy look that you cannot get from looking at a cream; it's kind of like looking at the sky. <3

Formula's a little watery on this polish, but other than that, there weren't many issues with application.  Here shown is 2 thick coats, but 3 regular coats would be necessary for full opacity.

The reason I'm doing a combined post on my nail art and the swatch is because I may have accidentally deleted all my pictures of DAR.  Oops!

Okay, so they aren't exactly the color of the sky at midnight, but these nails did remind me of a night sky with some golden stars :)  Today, I have a half-moon mani.  I used half of those paper-hole reinforcers to make the half moons.  This is 2 coats of American Apparel's Gold Flash as the base, with 2 coats of OPI's Dating a Royal on top.  I absolutely love this color combination!  The pairing of the deep blue with the gold looks elegant and mesmerizing!

This mani gave me so much trouble.  The thing about me and tape manicures is that I am too impatient and put down the tape before the polish is fully dry.  Then, when I try to take off the tape, the entire base layer of polish will peel off with the tape :(  Luckily, that only happened on 2 nails, so I just started over on those nails; it's still annoying though.

Half moon manis are pretty awesome!  I really like how this one turned out, and I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've successfully done one :)

28. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Purple Pizzazz

Purple Pizzazz is a bright purple jelly with magenta and purple shimmer.  This purple is even more purple than my purple American Apparel hoodie, which is saying a lot!  This polish reminds me of the shimmers that have come out recently, especially Zoya Tru.  The jelly base allows the shimmer to show through, and gives the polish depth and that squishy look.

Application was good, drying time was average.  Here shown is 3 coats.  You can stop at 2 coats, but personally I like my polishes nice and opaque.  I think you can still see a tiny bit of VNL, but that's okay, it's not as noticeable in real life.

15. Ulta - Fashionably Late

Today I have Fashionably Late from Ulta's Glitterati mini collection.  This has a black jelly base with large red hex and small red square glitter.  Essentially, it's a red version of Glamoflauge.  Surprisingly, I like the red on the black more than the purple on black.  Fashionably Late is a dupe of Deborah Lippmann's Ruby Red Slippers.

Application on this was not too difficult.  However, you do need to be careful, as dragging can occur.  There was this one bald spot on my right thumb that just wouldn't disappear until coat 4!  The formula was fine and the glitters went on fairly evenly and densely.

There's actually a lot of depth to this polish, more than i could see in Glamoflauge.  It's a sexy red without being too over-the-top bold and it reminds me a pair of sexy of Louboutins :D

14. Ulta - Black Tie Affair

Hey everyone!  Today I'm wearing Black Tie Affair from Ulta, which is supposed to be a dupe for DL's Today Was a Fairytale.  Honestly, after seeing swatches of the DL, I can say that I like that version better.  Black Tie Affair is a dark, smokey grey jelly-ish base with small and large silver hex glitter.  The Ulta version is pretty, but it's nothing too special.

Black Tie Affair looks to be darker than Today Was a Fairytale, with smaller silver hex glitter.  Actually, at 1 coat, Black Tie Affair looks more similar to TWaF, but it does not apply evenly, so I could not leave it at that.  2 coats left me with some nails darker than others, but still pretty looking.  However, 3 coats is a little bit dark for me; I like it better when it's light and more sheer, strangely.  Even after 3 coats, there is still some VNL, so I would suggest layering this over a cream if you want full opacity.

BTA dried very gritty and dull, so I used 2 layers of topcoat: 1 coat of Seche Vite and 1 coat of Poshe.

Since BTA didn't really impress me at first, I added matte top coat just to see what it looked like.  I can say that I'm digging this look much more!

13. Ulta - Glamoflage

Today I'm wearing Glamoflage, another polish from the Ulta mini set Glitterati.  This one's a supposed dupe for DL Bad Romance, another long time lemming of mine.  I really like how this looks on the nail!  It's a black jelly/cream with large purple hex and small purple glitter.  I love this color combination :)

Despite how much I love how this polish looks, the application was pretty bad.  The first and second coats were streaky and pretty sheer, with lots of cuticle drag.  Coat three evened everything out in the end, though, so I suppose it's all good.  The polish dries really gritty and dull, so make sure to use lots of topcoat over Glamoflage!  The glitters in this are very generous as well, lots of glitter in each stroke :D

Shown is 3 coats of Glamoflage topped with a coat of Poshe.  It could probably use another coat of Poshe, as it's still a bit bumpy.

12. Ulta Glitterati - Hide and Go Sequins

Hide and Go Sequins looks like it's a dupe for Deborah Lippman's Across the Universe.  Me, being a poor college student, saw this polish in a mini set at Ulta and immediately bought it.  I'm so glad I did!  This polish is a dark blue jelly containing large green, blue, and silver hex glitter.  There are also smaller blue hex glitters as well.  I really love how this polish looks on the nail.  It's dark, but the squishy appearance of the jelly base softens how dark it really is.  And the jelly base also gives the polish depth.  It's absolutely amazing to look at!

Application was decent on these.  Coats one and two were kind of uneven, but three evened out the color.  However, I like my polish a little more opaque, so I added a forth coat.  Four coats is a little bit much for me, but luckily the polish dried pretty fast.  I think the end result was worth it :)  The polish is fairly easy to work with.  At first, the glitters tended to clump together, but after coat 2, the glitters spread pretty well.  The formula is just the right consistency; a great break from the watery formula of the SHs.

Look how squishy they all look!  aaaaaaahhhhh <3  So lovely~  These pictures are a little bit lighter than what the polish usually looks like on the nail

Seeing how Hide and Go Sequins looks on my nail makes me want to buy DL Across the Universe, but it'll have to wait.  However, if Ulta had a regular-sized bottle of Hide and Go Sequins, I would definitely be satisfied buying that.