Hola

Well hi everyone. How has your summer been going? Mine's been okay. Mostly classes, which are boring, but they need to get done. It's been hot, but where in the country hasn't been hot?

Uh, anyway. I needed and wanted to create a post, but I realized that I didn't really paint my nails so much this summer. I really have been rocking the base coat and nothing else pretty much. I've wore lacqure a few times, but not that much. Part of is because I was too lazy to do it. Another part is because I got a crack half way down my finger. Yeah, not fun. But I did a full blown mani today. Hurrah! I'll make a post about that tomorrow (I think) but until then here are the three polishes I actually put on my nails so far this summer. (I did a fourth-RBL's Sante Fe Road but I didn't remember to take photos of it.)

Cult Nails-Feel Me Up

Orly-Lunar Eclipse

Zoya-Edyta

I liked them all. Feel Me Up was the most difficult to work with, only because it's yellow and yellows are notoriously hard to work with. That was three coats and I was okay with it enough to stop there, although I feel a fourth would have worked out all the streaks I was having still at three coats. I'm sad I waited so long to wear Lunar Eclipse. It's a beautiful polish and I understand why everyone went crazy over that collection a few years ago. Edyta was gorgeous, but my pictures don't tell the story of it. It has shimmer and glitter that just didn't get picked up. It's the perfect dark green polish. I think it's one of those must haves polishes, especially if you like greens.

See, I told y'all I wasn't really wearing polish. I have to admit it's been nice to just wear my bare nails most of the time. I imagine I'll get out of it one of these days and run back to the color, but for now this has been it. Full mani post tomorrow. Hopefully. (Maybe Tuesday.)

Well Howdy

Hey guys. Long time no write huh? To be honest there isn't a real reason I didn't blog for almost three weeks. I was finished with school (although summer semester has just started), I didn't move or start a new job or anything like that. I just needed a bit of a break. I think I was wearing nail polish for this blog's sake and not because I love it. So...yeah, needed the time to just paint my nails at my own leisure. Wear a color for a few hours or up to a week. Wear a color again if I wanted to. Stuff like that. I needed to be selfish with my polish wearing.

And with that selfishness I wore quite a few polishes. They're below, with a few notes.

Man Glaze Lesbihonest-My first Man Glaze polish and holy crap I love it. I need to get a few more in my life. It's a bright fuchsia matte with shimmer. I can't even begin to explain how much I love this one, and you guys know pink isn't my favorite color (polish or not) in the world. Two coats and it was perfect.

Zoya Marina-I wore this after it had been overcast and cloudy for days in my part of the world. Lots of summer storms (and already two named tropical storms. Yay summer) already. Marina matched the cloudy, greyish dark skies. I got this polish in a swap with Refined and Polish, who is one of the sweetest people ever. She taking a break to finish up her doctoral degree, but her blog is one of the best out there. If you follow this one, you HAVE to follow hers. Two coats as well.

Hits Hera-Honestly, I just wanted to wear one of the few holos I have backlogged in my untrieds box and we had like one day of sun. Woo. This is a teal holo. It's so pretty and the picture doesn't even begin to show how beautiful the holo is. I did three coats of this one, but they were thin coats. Dried relatively fast and no top coat.

Zoya Jancyn and OPI Servin Up Sparkle-I also have quite a few Zoyas backlogged as well and wanted to get another one out the way. Jancyn is a bright almost tangerine orange. I've wanted this one since it first came out a few years ago. Unfortunately I didn't love the formula. It needed three coats and it went on funky and just...bah. I think someone with more patience who like orange would love the color. I put on SUS to add a bit to the orange creme. I actually really liked that look after SUS was added.

Zoya Jo-Talking about a polish I've wanted forever. And I looooves it. It's a cornflower blue with lots of blue shimmer. Much more than what you see in the picture. I did three coats of this one as well, but it dried quickly and I didn't have any problems with the formula. Now I know why everyone loves this polish. I think it's a must have for a collection. It's not terribly unique (nowadays) but it's a basic color you should just have.

Sinful Colors Athens-I just gushed about Jo and now I have to go to this. I don't like this polish. I didn't like the color once I had it on my nails, I didn't like the formula. It looked better in the bottle than on me. Meh. No need to really talk about this one more.

A-England Order of the Garter-A denim blue with glass flecks. Yes. Just a beautiful polish from a great company. OotG is from the latest A-England collection, The Legends. It's the one non-holo and what a non-holo polish it is. I needed three coats, but other than that it was great. Drying time was a bit slow, but I don't know how much of that is the polish or the fact that I used three coats, with the second and third coats being relatively thick. But other than that it's a great polish.

So as you can see I did indeed wear a good bit of polish during the past three weeks. I also wore IKB again because, well I could and it needs to be worn as often as possible. I don't know how blogging will go from now on. I guess when the mood strikes me. I might do a post with just one polish, I may do one with seven again. At least I'll have an excuse this time? Anyway, I hope things have been going well with all of you. Any plans for the summer? I hope it's more interesting then taking summer classes like me.

Zoya-Gemma

Another quick post. Just have to make it through this week and then I'm free. Well, for a month and then it's summer semester. Sigh.

Anyway, Gemma is a muted green base with purple shimmer in it. The base actually reminds me of a lighter Dree. The shimmer glows and it gives the polish that lit from within look. I see why everyone and their mama loved this polish when it was first released Spring 2011. (Do the kids still say that phrase?)

Hoping the shimmer is more visible with this one. A bit.

The formula on this was nice and buttery like most Zoya polishes. It took three coats for complete coverage, but that's okay. Dry time was slower than most Zoyas, but I chalk that up to the three coats. This is a fantastic polish and if you like green or shimmers then this is a must have. Kind of pissed it took me this long to get and wear this polish. Fail moment right there.

Hunger Games Week: China Glaze-Agro

I kept on Fast Track a bit longer than normal. That's how much I loved it. But on to a new polish and it's Agro.

Agro is a olive green with green and orange shimmer. The shimmer is visible in the bottle and right after applying. It adds a bit of dimension to the polish itself. The problem is that the shimmer isn't really translated once you add a topcoat (or try to take a picture of it). Trust me when I say, it's visible when you actually look at it.

The formula was great. Two coats, but if I added it thicker with the first I think it could have been a one coater. It dried really quickly as well. Nice polish. It's not my favorite so far, but it's nice if you like greens.

Sinful Colors Olympia and Cult Nails Toxic Seaweed

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone. My last green mani for the week. Olympia is a muted mint green. I don't have Zoya Bevin or OPI Thanks a Windmillion, but I think this could be a very comparable dupe for the two if you rather pay $1.99 for the color. The formula was so-so. Not the greatest but okay to work with. A bit thick and it dried slower than you would think for a pastel-y color. It did dry very shiny though. Was surprised by that.

Added Toxic Seaweed on top because I hadn't used it yet. TS is THICK as hell and a bit tricky to work with. But it's worth it. It's sparkly and shiny. I used two thin coats and it dried pretty okay. I suggest using the two thin coats with this one and just build the glitter up.

I don't know if I love this mani or not, but it's what I'm wearing today. I definitely like it though. I don't think you can get Toxic Seaweed anymore (it was LE) but Olympia is a part of Sinful Colors Spring Cast Away collection.

China Glaze-Glittering Garland

Another green this week. I've heard that this is a close substitute to the much universally loved Emerald Sparkle. I don't have ES (booo) and since this is similar I had to get it.

Glittering Garland is a green glitter based polish. It looks like it's a black base with so much green glitter you can barely tell the base. The formula on this was good. Not too thick or thin, went on the nail well. This dried really slowly though, but I'm thinking that's because of the glitter component. 

Two coats was enough. It was streaky on the first coat. I really love this polish! I still wish I had Emerald Sparkle, but this is a nice replacement for it.

Julep-Leah

St. Patrick's Day is this Saturday and I have a few greens in my untrieds to wear so this week will be green week here at Doing My Nails. First up is Julep Leah. I got this as a part of my Maven box in...January? Let's say January. The polish in the bottle is so pretty, but once on the nail...meh.

Leah is a kelly green creme with just the hint of green and silver shimmer. I actually think this color reminds me more of grass then anything. The color above isn't the true color of the polish, and I didn't really get it with the second picture below, but it's MUCH closer. The shimmer just doesn't really show up. The green just kind of swallows it up.

The formula on this was crap. Thick but thin somehow. Streaky as hell. Dried slowly. It also dried a little flat. Not matte, but just flat. Top coat is definitely needed if you want this shiny, and having it shiny is the only way you'll see the little bit of shimmer.

The polish is bright and very spring-like. There, something positive about it. I don't know how this looks on me. I like the color but maybe not on me? I don't know. Again, meh.

Essie-Armed and Ready

Hey guys. Sorry it's been a little while. Been quite busy. School, as always, is kicking my butt. And I finally got a new computer. Woot! But I've been playing  around with it more than doing anything with my nails unfortunately. Hopefully that'll end soon. If only school could get itself in line. Oh well.

Armed and Ready is a polish I've been eyeing since seeing swatches of it in early January. I finally bit the bullet and just purchased this for full price at my local drugstore. It's a greenish/brownish/greyish creme with dark gold/copper shimmer. I can't even begin to describe how pretty this is. When the light hits it just right the shimmer really pops. I used two coats here and it needed both (first coat was streaky). A&R dried fast. Like, super "I just put on a quick dry top coat" fast. Well, maybe not that fast, but still fast enough where I didn't put on a top coat. Still don't have one on and after two days my polish haven't chipped yet (which is a minor miracle as y'all know).

I love this polish. Love it. Again, I got this from my local drugstore for the regular retail price, and I'm happy with it. I've sung the praises of the Essie drugstore formula before and I'll continue to. It's fantastic and I've never had this much success using their salon formula polishes (actually, has anyone noticed a difference between the salon Essie polishes and the drugstore version?) If you like these type colors I highly recommend getting it. Very nice. 

Hits-Powerpuff Girls Elemento X

Quick post tonight. Guess who has to read all of Don Juan by Lord Byron by tomorrow? Yay.

Elemento X is another polish from Hits, this time from their Powerpuff Girls collection. This is the only one that really caught my eye. Let me say now, this polish looks so much better in person than in these pictures. These pictures suck in comparison, but I adore this polish so I had to make a post.

Elemento X is...I actually don't know how to describe it. A black polish with tons of green shimmer? A dark hunter green with lots of the same color shimmer that leans black? I don't know, but I will say that it looks black (or dark green) the majority of the time and when a light hits it it glows green. It's so damn awesome.

Formula was pretty good. Thick, but I've come to expect that from Hits polishes now. I was able to work with it easily though. The bristles in this was okay. Not as bad as in Cool, but not perfect. (After checking Llarowe's Facebook page I see several of the Mari Moon polishes had funky brushes. Booo Hits.) This dried really fast. Much faster than I expected, especially considering I did a pretty thick second coat for this mani.

Again, I love this polish. Pretty awesome. This is one you have to see in person to get why it's great. If you're a lover of green nail polish then I highly recommend this. I'm trying to think if there is a dupe of this out there somewhere and I can't come up with anything. Pretty unique and, again, awesome. I got this from Llarowe, per usual.

Hits-Mari Moon Cool

Well hellooooo duochrome nail polish! Its been a while since we've been together. I had to get out of my SpaRitual funk, so I decided to wear this over the weekend. Let me tell you now, this polish frustrated the hell out of me. But in the end it was so worth it. So very worth it.

Mari Moon Cool is a green/blue duochrome shimmer. You guys know with duochromes, how it hits the light is the color you see. It's mostly green, but you will see the blue. I love this combination so much. I love the lime/electric green it gives off and quite frankly would love a creme color of something like that.

The formula on this is thick and streaky. You can try to get by with one coat, but I wouldn't suggest it. Two even things up for me nicely. But seriously, it's much thicker than I expected or even used before. Kind of strange. Yes, you can see bubbles on my nails, but that's me. I had to shake up the polish before using it and that was the consequences of that. Oops.

horrible shot, but this is to show the blue

This dried ridiculously fast. Almost matte polish fast. It pleasantly surprised me. One thing I have to bring up is bristles on the brush. Now, maybe it was just my bottle, but the bristles were all over the place. I had to cut off about four because they had just gone haywire. And a few more look like they want to stick out as well. Plus, this did chip kind of quickly, even for me. After about a day of having it on I had a few chips one three fingers.

hoping this one shows both

But with all that-bad brush, thick polish, quick chippies-this polish is still a winner for me. The duochromeness is awesome and it dried fast. I love it simply for those two reasons. I'd highly recommend it. I got this from Llarowe for $8. I say well worth the money.

Zoya-Dree and Finger Paints-Flecked

Because Zoya is having a nice little promotion for the new year and since I just bought that and will be buying the new spring colors soon as well I thought I'd wear my last Zoya just sitting there. And I'm so disappointed in myself that I didn't wear this sooner.

indoors, artificial light

Dree is a dark olive/army green creme. Not much to describe it but it's so beautiful. I love these types of colors and it was a big trend during the fall so Zoya was right on time with this one. The formula was okay. Not amazing, but good. Two coats was all I needed and it dried well. I'd been lusting after this color the minute I saw swatches of it on blogs last, what, September I think. And yet I didn't wear it until now. I have no idea why, but I tend to be weird like that. Anyway, this is great polish. I know not everyone is a fan of greens but if you are this is definitely one that needs to be in your collection.

indoors, artificial light

Since I have the Finger Paints flakies still just hanging out (I know they have an official collection name, but you all know what I'm talking about anyway) I decided to top this off with Flecked. Flecked is the green/blue flakie. With this mani I definitely see more green, but in the right light the blue comes out as well.

blurry. sorry. but i was trying to show the green and blue in the flakies.

Now, my pictures of this is crap and I know it. This is one that looks 100x better in person than in the picture. The green and the blue just wouldn't show up on my camera for some reason. But the shock of light emerald green and blue on the olive/army base is just awesome to me.

another shot. hoping yall can see more blue in this one.

With all that said, I think I like Dree as a polish on its own. The color is so unique you don't need something else with it. However, if you wanted to add some flash I would recommend Flecked. The brighter green in the flakie really does pop off the dark olive base. And that's it. If you don't have Dree make sure to pick it up during Zoya's promotion. $6.95 for two polishes? You should already be sold on it by now (unless you're overseas at which case, sorry guys. :( )

Glitter Gal-Lizard Belly

I got Lizard Belly as an end of the semester gift. I got all A's and it was a treat to myself. And what a treat it is. I'm pretty sure this is my new favorite polish period. Not just favorite holo. It's gorgeous in the bottle, it's gorgeous on the nails. It's just gorgeous.

All photos are indoors, artificial light. It was rainy Christmas Day when I took the pics. :(

Lizard Belly is a hunter green linear holo. My pictures do not do this any justice at all. The green is dark enough that the contrast of the holo is stark (and awesome), but not so dark that you can't tell it's green. I will say that one coat does show the green a bit more. This is two coats and while you won't confuse it with black, it did get darker.

blurry close up.

The formula on this was good. Maybe a little thick, but nothing to complain about. It was easy to work with though. It flowed over the nail and there was no drag.

you can see the gorgeous holo in the bottle. and how small it is.

The drying time was a bit slower than most holos. I chalk that up to the darkness of it. I used a top coat and, as you can see, the effect wasn't dulled. Although I must say I haven't had a problem with top coats messing up the holo effect. With that said I do only use one top coat with holos-Revlon Quick Dry. Hasn't dulled yet.

another, better close up

This was my Christmas mani and I'm very OMGHAPPY!!!1!11! with it. I hope all of you had and continue to have a good holiday season.

Zoya-Yara

This is going to be another quick post because, as always, I have no time. At least this time it's not because of school. At least not primarily.

indoors, artificial light

Yara is a part of Zoya's fall Smoke and Mirrors collection. I really only liked three colors and this is the second one of those (reviewed Neeka already). I have another to show you guys...eventually. Whenever I get to it. Anyway, Yara is a olive green creme with gold glitter in it. I know someone else (sorry I don't remember who!) said that she thought the glitter was yellow, but I think it leans more gold. It's very pretty and even though they're complimentary colors I wouldn't think of creating a polish like this.

indoors, artificial light. close up.

The formula was great. Two thin coats and it was fine. It dried pretty well too. I think the glitter shows up better in the bottle, but that's pretty par for the course with glitters/shimmers and everything like it.

indoors, artificial light.

This was a pretty crap review, but sometimes there isn't a lot to say. Great formula, good dry time, and the polish is pretty. It's a little something extra in the sea of olive/army/military greens that is in season for fall this year.

L'Oreal-Owl's Night

I know I said I'd try to do some Halloween manis, but I couldn't NOT wear this beauty. I know this has been hard to find for some people, but when I went to Rite Aid the other day there were several in the little collection case thing. *shrugs* Maybe Charleston as a whole doesn't care about nail polish like other cities. Anyway, enough of my blah blah blahing and on to the polish.

indoors, artificial light

Owl's Night is a part of the LE Project Runway collection. I actually still really like PR. Do you guys watch it? Anyway, it's a dark brown with olive green shimmer. Or...something. I truly can't sum on what this polish is. When I first saw it I thought olive green, but on the nail it reads brown. I don't know, I just know it's gorgeous. (Speaking off, are there any brown and (preferably olive) green duochromes out there? I'd LOVE a polish like that.) The shimmer is out of this world. It glows, even inside. There's also a hint of orange shimmer in the polish.

indoors, artificial light

This is two coats. Maybe I should have done three, but oh well. There's a slight (and I mean slight) little streak that's visible in pictures, but not really in person. But I blame that on how I was painting my nails. I did a few with very thin coats and the others with very thick. But the formula itself was pretty good. Dried okay I guess. Not fast but not super slow. Very much average.

outdoors, closeup

This is my first L'Oreal polish so I was curious about the brush. I don't like it. It seems too...stiff. I know not everyone has the OPI wide brush, but I think it can be better. Or maybe I just need to get used to it. And I love the bottle design. I partial to square bottles, what can I say? It's really cute and I like the top. Not the a-typical black circular top.

outdoors

I love this so so so very much. Maybe there's a dupe out there, but I don't have anything like this in my collection. It's really unique. I think this may be my favorite polish of the fall collections so far. (I feel like I say that all the time, but it's true!) Are all L'Oreal polishes like this? I may need to see what else they have. Damn my nail junkie tendencies. :)

Cult Nails-In A Trance

It felt like fall this weekend you guys! It barely got up to 70 degrees. We actually had to break out sweaters and light jackets. You have no idea how happy this made me. It's suppose to go back up to the upper 70's later this week, so I'm going to enjoy the cool weather while it lasts. And because we had fall like weather I broke out one of the Cult Nails Fall Collection polishes I've been saving until it feel more like the season, In A Trance.

outdoors

In A Trance fills the olive green quota that so in season this year. This is on the darker side of the olive green spectrum with gold shimmer going throughout it. One coat was amazing, but this is two coats and as expected it's a bit darker.

indoors, artificial light. hoping you guys can see some of the shimmer.

As per the norm with Cult Nails, the formula was fantastic. Went smooth and perfect and only needed two coats. Dried quickly too. I only regret not being able to get any sun pics with this. I kept forgetting my camera when I left home. But it's beautiful out in the sun as well.

indoors, artificial light

I'm so digging this olive/military green trend this season. If you get just one polish of this color you won't be disappointed with In A Trance. That gold shimmer really brings out the color and makes it a bit unique compared to some others that are out. Also, Cult Nails is having free shipping til the 6th of this month (Thursday you guys!) because of their 2K likes on Facebook. I'm actually trying not to buy any new polish (my untrieds box is pretty much overflowing plus I'm trying to save every last dime to buy a new computer during the holiday season) but if you have $10 this is well worth it. This and pretty much every other Cult Nails polish. :)