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.)

Julep-Stella

Yep, I signed up for the Julep Maven program. I got the introductory box and I have the two polishes that were in there (Sienna and Emilie-I'm an "It Girl") but I also got the September box as well. Now, I didn't mean to but I forgot about the automatic charge thing so it got shipped to me. I'm actually kind of happy about it because I'm digging the cuticle oil and hand cream that was offered.

Anyway, the polish this month was Stella. Julep calls it a mustard yellow and I don't disagree with that. The problem is that my camera isn't showing you the true color. It's darker and a bit dirtier, if that makes any sense. My pictures make it seem bright, which it isn't.

indoors. sorry about the blurriness.

The formula was all wonky. It was thick, yet runny and streaky. I take it that's how typical  yellows go. Had a little trouble making sure it didn't pool on my cuticles, but it wasn't horrible. I thought the problem would be getting the polish out of the bottle, but that was fine. I also like the brush. It's not as big as the OPIs, but it fans out really well. And I loved how quick this dried. I did two "not think but certainly not thin" coats and I was surprised how quickly it dried to the touch.

outdoors

While I don't know if this is worth getting box for (although the hand cream and cuticle oil might make up for that) and I don't know how well this works on me I like it. The formula isn't the best, but again I think that's par for the course with yellows. I just wish the true to life color of the polish showed because it's, I think, better than this.

(Please ignore how short my middle finger is. It broke pretty deeply today and I didn't want to cut all the rest of my nails down.)

Misa-Under My Sunbrella

I finally got the three polishes I wanted from the Misa Summer collection today and I promptly put one on. I have to say, I think Misa is a bit underrated. I don't think I've ever seen someone say that their favorite polish is by Misa, yet they consistently put out really great shades. They have a great bottle design (my favorite to be honest), that awesome rubber handle, and a pretty good brush. I don't know, I just don't think they get as much press as other brands. Anyway, let's get to the polish.

indoors

This is Under My Sunbrella, a golden yellow sheer polish with lots (and lots!) of flakies in it. I decided to wear this one because we haven't been getting that much sun here in Charleston. Been overcast like whoa. I have on three coats and you can still see VNL. I couldn't push myself to add a fourth. I just...I just can't do it y'all. Formulas was a tiny bit runny, but again, it's sheer and it wasn't hard to work with. Quite easy actually. I threw Seche Vite on top of this so I can't judge drying time, but its been five hours since I've put this on (as of writing this) and I can still dent it with my finger nail if I press hard enough. It's completely dry to the touch. I've washed my hands several times and it hasn't messed up. It's just not totally dried to the nail yet I don't think. So, yeah.

outdoors. closeup. trying to show the flakies.

The real genius in this polish (and I'm going to say the entire collection) is in the flakies. There are gold, orange, and just a hint of green flakies through this. I wish my camera picked up on them. It's really pretty. I actually didn't expect it to be this packed with flakies and glitter, even after seeing other swatches. I'm not a big glitter person, but I was pleasantly surprised. It fits this polish I think.

outdoors

I don't think it goes great with my skin tone. I keep wishing it was lighter or darker, but I think I'm being picky. It's very pretty and so darn apropos for the season.

Wet N Wild-Saved By The Blue and The Wonder Yellows

So let me be upfront and say that I don't like this post. Well, it's not the post I have a problem with, it's the polishes in the post. In an attempt to get these out of my untried box I wore both this weekend and, well, I don't like. Let's start off with the better of the two.

indoors

Saved By The Blue is a color I'm sure everyone has already seen so there's not much for me to say about it. It's a little darker than royal blue creme. It went on fine in one coat (which is what this is above) and it dried fast. In fact, I remember some others who have worn and/or swatched this before saying this dried on the slower side for them, but for me it was fine. And I must say I was able to take this off pretty damn well, especially for a blue. You guys know how tricky blues can be to take off.

indoors, flash

My problem with it is that it's so...meh. I mean, a royal blue. Ho hum. This color has been done, and done better, by other companies. I mean, it's nice to have it in the stash, but if I wasn't so enamored with blues and if it wasn't my favorite color, I don't know if I would have bought it. But it does have a good name, I'll give it that.

indoors

Let me first say about The Wonder Yellows that I think it is a horrible name. Really horrible. It just sounds really cheesy. This is a sheer yellow polish with yellow shimmer in it. For the record, it's not super sheer, but enough that you'll need two thick or three thin coats for full opacity with no vnl or bald spots.

indoors, flash

While the formula was fine I didn't love it. And I must say, this looks better in the pictures than it does in person. I kind of hate it to be fully honest. And I wanted to like this despite the name too. Bummer.