Essie Take It Out Side Fall/Winter 2014 Color Trend

Hi friends! With another Friday upon us, I have the next color from the Pantone fall palette, the first neutral and a good one at that!

Aluminum is a nice warm grey taupe with red undertones. It is a bit different than the traditional grey shades prevalent in the fall and winter. Essie Take It Outside from the Dress To Kilt fall collection captures the shade perfectly.

Please Note: Products shown were purchased by me for my personal use.

 

Essie Take It Outside (Dress To Kilt Fall 2014)

Pahlish Swatch Spam

Hey y'all, happy Monday! So I have a big ass post full of pictures today! Over the last four weeks, I have managed to order from Pahlish three separate times. So now it is Pahlish swatch spam day!

Please Note: Products shown were purchased by me for my personal use.

Guest Post From Tracey Loves Lacquer

Hey guys! So you may have noticed a bit of sporadic posting lately, and I do apologize! My camera has decided to crap out on me! I was able to order a new one, but alas Mercury is in retrograde and has caused my shiny new camera to be on back order (kidding about the mercury thing). Since I am unable to essentially blog, I reached out to the incredible nail art community and asked a few people to guest post for me!

First up is the awesome Tracey, she was one of the first people I really "met" on IG and I really love her skittlette mains. She comes up with the best color combos!

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Hi Everyone !!!

This is Tracey here - aka TraceyLovesLacquer on Instagram.  When the lovely and amazing Bridget contacted me the other day about doing a guest post for her, I just about fell off the couch

!!!!  We've been following and supporting each other for awhile now on IG and I'm a huge fan of her work, so of course I jumped at the chance to help her out.

Today I have for you a few of the polishes from the OPI Spring/Summer 2014 Brazil Collection.  When I first saw pics of this collection late last year, the first thing that stood out for me was the neutrals.  Sure the collection has some incredible bright and fun colors but I love me a good neutral. If its mushroomy or taupe or greige in any way, shape or form, I'm all over it.

So today I'm featuring from left to right, I Sao Paulo Over There, Taupe-less Beach & Don't Bossa Nova Me Around. Also making an appearance is My Boyfriend Scales Walls from the 2012 Spider-Man Collection. For me - MBSW is the best "dirty white" on the market and pretty much the only white I use for nail art.  I'm already into my 2nd bottle and have a 3rd one on standby.

Here's a look at my mani with just the base coats.  I found the formulas on all the polishes to be really good.   They were rich and creamy, self leveling and opaque in 2 coats.

And now for some art!!!!!

On my index I have a dotted gradient over my base of MBSW and on my ring finger I have a striped gradient using Sao Paulo and Taupe-less Beach sponged over some striping tape. I then pulled the striping tape to reveal the base of Don't Bossa Nova Me Around.  Throw in some more dots to bring it all together and call it done!

Well I hope you've enjoyed my post. You can find me at https://Instagram.com/traceyloveslacquer

Thanks again to Bridget for asking me to guest post for her.  I meant the world to me!!  HUGS, Tracey

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Thank you so much Tracey! I am loving the mix and match neutrals! Don't Boss-A Nova Me Around is definitely on my to-buy list!

Hope you guys enjoyed Tracey's awesome mani!  I can't wait to share the rest of the posts with you!

Essence Cherry Blossom Girl

Hey all! Sorry for the lack of posts this week, I have had things swatched and photographed, but never got around to actually editing the photos. Oops. Today I have polishes from the Essence Cherry Blossom Girl collection released in Europe last fall. I found a display randomly shoved in a corner of my HEB ( a texas grocery store chain) and immediately snatched up all the bottles. I hardly ever find special Essence collections, but when I do, I usually grab the polish if there is any left. 

 

 

 

Essence - Fortune Cookie

 

Fortune Cookie is a sunflower yellow with a yellow hidden shimmer. It's nearly impossible to see, except in sunlight where you will get a little twinkle. I happen to be one of the few people that can wear yellow with out it making me look horrid. This particular shade is a great one for my skin tone & I love it. Formula was pretty much standard for a yellow, streaky and hard to level. I used three coats, waiting (im)patiently between each one, and managed to get everything smooth. It also stained my fingers a bit, so it looked like I had dried mustard around my cuticles for a little while : \

 

 

Essence - My Little Kimono

 

My Little Kimono is a taupe/greige with a silvery shimmer. Usually, this type of color looks horrid on me, lobster hands and all, so I tend to stay away from them. But the hoarder in me couldn't pass it up and leave the collection incomplete! That would being breaking polish covenant! Luckily, it doesn't look too bad, and doesn't give me dreaded lobster hands. This was also the only one I didn't have formula issues with. 2 coats, no streaking, nice dry time.

 

 

Essence - Cherry Cherry Girl

 

Cherry Cherry Girl is a bright orangey red crelly (cream/jelly) finish. I wasn't expecting to like it, but it is so bright and the crelly is really nice and squishy looking! The formula was more like a jelly, thick with a longer dry time. Patient and careful application is required, otherwise expect a bubble fest!

 

Essence - It's Peach, Not Cherry

 

It's Peach, Not Cherry is a peach/coral crelly with the same formula as Cherry Cherry Girl. I LOVE this color! I have been obsessed with corals and peaches lately. I literally cannot get enough. This is the third one I have posted since January, and I actually just bought another one yesterday! Again, careful application is needed with it because of the formula.

 

 

 

And just because I had nothing better to do, I did a quick little dotted flower mani! Ignore the gloopy mistake on my index finger, k? ; )

Nail of the Day: Nude-ish

On any given day, I will have something bright and sparkly painted on my nails, but some days, a toned down mani feels a bit more stylish. Since I swatched the Nails Inc Neutral Collection, I haven't really felt like wearing any of the shades. Today, I felt a bit mellow and decided to grab a bottle.

 

Sally Hansen Diamond Strength - Glass Slipper over Nails Inc - Porchester Sq

with Hard Card - Matte-ly in Love

I couldn't resist adding a sparkly top coat, and finally decided to matte the whole thing! I love how it is subtly flashy, but still muted.

Nails Inc Neutrals Collection

This past weekend was very dreary and rainy and a bit chilly. I think the grey weather put me in the mood for some soft grey polishes. While virtually browsing Sephora, I ordered this cozy neutral toned collection of Nails Inc polishes.

 

Elizabeth St., Jermyn St., The Thames, Porchester Square

 

 

Elizabeth St.

 

Elizabeth St is a sheer warm pink jelly/cream hybrid. This is a great polish as a "palette cleanser." One coat is incredibly sheer and would be good to even out nail coloration when you want a clean look. It does have a tiny bit of streaking problems, but levels really well as it dries. 3 coats for full coverage. Good dry time.

 

Jermyn St.

Jermyn St is a dusty red/brown mauve cream. I didn't really like this one until I put it on. It is really flattering for my skin tone, and not out dated like I thought it would be. 2 coats, great coverage, nice flow and good dry time. My only issue was a few stray bristles on the brush, definitely a lack of quality control.

 

The Thames

The Thames is a dark grey cream with blue/green undertones. This one is my least favorite of the set & horrible for my skin tone. Hello lobster hands!!! Similar formula as Jermyn St & Porchester square. And the same brush issue as Jermyn St. Two polishes out of four with wonky brushes is pretty bad.

Porchester Square

 

Porchester Square is a light purple toned taupe cream. Nails Inc claims it is the original "Greige" color. It is actually a great color, soft and simple. Great for days when you want to have a nice clean look, instead of flashy, bright or glittery. Same formula as Jermyn St and The Thames, but thankfully no brush issues.

 

 

Overall, this is a really great set if you are in need of a good range of neutrals or work appropriate colors. It's a great deal as well, four full sized polishes for $25. Nails Inc continues to impress me with their formula, brush quality aside.

 

Nails Inc is available for US customers in stores and on line at Sephora