Color Show Emerald City: Teal Glitter Polish Review + Reverse French-esque (??) Mani

Hello! Last weekend, while grocery shopping with my roomie, we made a stop by Target. Naturally, this meant I veered off towards the Health & Beauty section, and there I spotted Maybelline's new Color Show collection! I typically find the Color Show collection to be a hit or miss, and this time it was a hit! I instantly fell in love with Emerald City, and picked it up for $2.99. Read the review and see the mani I created with it after the jump!

Maybelline Color Show Emerald City

Leopard Skittlette with the Best Glitter Polish Ever, Nicole by OPI Pick of the Glitter!!

Hello all!  This post is revisiting a favorite of mine, leopard print!  This is a mani I have used over and over and over, all my friends definitely recognize it by now (or at least I think they do xD).  I love the combination of a lovely turquoise, glitter, and leopard print - where could it go wrong?? haha.  Details about this mani and Nicole by OPI Pick of the Glitter polish after the jump!

Leopard Skittlette using Pick of the Glitter (Nicole by OPI)
(click on photo to zoom in)

Finally, a Warm Sheer Pink? Zoya Olivia

New year means new Zoya colors with the Color Your World Promotion. Of course, I was all over that and got 3 new colors even though I didn't actually want anything specific. Since I've been pleased with all my Zoya purchases beforehand, I decided to take the chance and buy one of their sheer pinks. This is Zoya Olivia. I've been looking for the perfect pink for almost a year now. I wanted one that was slightly yellow-toned, light, sheer but buildable to opacity, not streaky, etc. etc. OPI Don't Burst My Bubble was kind of my hope, but that was a bit too cool for what I was aiming for.

OPI Muir Muir on the Wall: COLOR FOUND!

OPI Muir Muir on the Wall is a vampy, purple-brown shimmer from their recent San Francisco collection. There's a hint of gold and greenish duochrome, but it's much more visible in the bottle. Like your typical OPI, this polish went on smoothly and opaquely in two coats.

Story time: two years ago, I tried a beautiful purple-brown color that belonged to one of my college friends. Unfortunately, the color was from a Chinese brand (named B.O. lol) and the bottle has dried up to an irrecoverable brick. Ever since then, I have been searching for the perfect American dupe. And Muir Muir on the Wall is it. Other colors were either too purple or too brown, or they had like red shimmer which isn't what I wanted. When I saw swatches of this online, I had high hopes that my dupe search would be over. OPI did not disappoint! I think this belongs in my faves already; I couldn't stop staring at my hands.

Deborah Lippman Mermaid's Dream

This is probably the most expensive nail polish that's ever graced by fingers. I present Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream, a complex aqua glitter. The base seems to be a mixture of fine foil-like gold and light blue-green glitters, with larger and darker turquoise hex glitters interspersed throughout. The formula was slightly sheer but built up to full opacity in two coats. So...I bought this for one of my friends as a birthday gift, but ended up trying out the sample bottle at Sephora on myself. I stood there in the middle of the store and did a full manicure. No shame. I think all the Deborah Lippmanns are overpriced (like $18 to $21?) for pretty average-looking colors but this one drew my eye.

China Glaze Midnight Kiss

Wowsers, I am super behind with posting. Usually I take pictures of my manicures, but I just haven't felt the urge to blog about it immediately. And then the pictures just pile up on my SD card...

Anyway, this is China Glaze Midnight Kiss, a basic gold foil. It's cooler-toned, almost silvery in some lights. I wore this over winter break! It really is a nice holiday color, as indicated by the name. I've used it as an accent color in a few other manicures (like here and here), but I think this was the first time I wore Midnight Kiss by itself. The formula is good: slightly thin, but opaque in two coats.

Cherry Blossom Nail Art for Chinese New Year

Hello all! For Chinese New Year, I wanted to do some creative nails, but unfortunately there are no cute horse nails >.> So I decided to do something slightly reminiscent of Asia, and while looking around I saw a lot of cherry blossom nails! There was one blogger who had nails I absolutely adored, and I decided to put my own twist on it :D Here goes..

Cherry Blossom Nails
(click on photo to zoom in)