Butter London Lillibet's Jubilee

Something you might not know about me is that I'm a major Royal watcher. I'm a complete Anglophile and I think I love the Royal family more than any US celebrities. Waaaay back, this time last year, when Sam was here (OMG, Sam, I can't believe it's been a whole year!), I had this on my list of polishes I HAD to get while she was here, because obviously I need polish to celebrate the Jubilee! And I just could not find it! I was pretty devastated. It was LE so I figured I'd never get my hands on it. Then, to celebrate the birth of Prince George, Ulta had an exclusive Butter London set of three polishes, including this one, No More Waity Katie, and Pitter Patter.
So ANYWAYS, this is a beautiful lavender foil with some serious pink tones in it. I have no idea why it bubbled a bit on my middle finger, as I didn't notice until I took the pictures. The formula was impeccable, two fantastically easy coats plus top coat. I'm not a super fan of the brush, mostly the handle part is a little short for me but I freaking love how cute the square bottles all look together. If you find this polish, don't think, just buy it! It's perfect.
And speaking of, I've got an extra bottle of No More Waity Katie. I'm considering selling it on Ebay or having a blog sale, as I do have a few things I'd like to get rid of. Would anyone be interested?

Essie Sunday Funday

I am over the moon excited for Essie's Summer collection, Naughty Nautical. I've been hunting for them everywhere and finally Anna at Business Lady Polish posted about finding them at Target. I restrained myself from getting all of them and just went with two. This is Sunday Funday. It's a bright corally orange shade that feels positively summery on my nails. It's hard to see in the pic but I still have an ever so slightly visible nail line. I did three coats, so next time I'll probably do a coat of white first. This also has a very subtle shimmer to it. Like I said, I'm completely in love with it. I'm trying to decide which two to buy next!
Did you pick up any polishes from this collection?

China Glaze Spontaneous

This is the very first China Glaze nail polish I ever purchased, China Glaze Spontaneous. It's probably the second oldest nail polish I have (OPI's Kyoto Pearl being the only polish I had before that). It's a fairly basic medium purple. I did two coats, but really it deserves three. The brush was quite odd, it struck me as being oddly skinny. This polish feels so fun and summery on my nails and I'm in love with it. It will always remind me of the time in my life when I bought it and that brings a smile to my face.
Tell me what your first China Glaze polish was! Those kinds of tidbits fascinate me.

Wet N Wild Through The Grapevine

First of all, excuse the giant scratch on my pointer finger. I have no idea how that happened. Anyways, this is Wet N Wild's Through The Grapevine. My picture came out a bit brighter than in real life, but it's still fairly close. Through The Grapevine is a dusky grapey berry color. It looks a little dustier in the bottle and it dries a little lighter than bottle color. I love the color but I'm not over the moon for it, if that makes any sense. This was two coats, but I think it would have been better with three. It's not a super fast drying polish even though I use a fast dry top coat. Right now these are buy one get one 50% off at Rite Aid, which isn't a super big deal but enough to justify going to get a couple.
This month has just flown right by. I can't even believe we are getting into Memorial Day weekend now. Anyone have any big plans? I have no idea what we are going to do but it's probably not anything extremely exciting.

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

I almost completely forgot to blog this polish! This is Deborah Lippmann's Mermaid's Dream. And my picture just does not do it justice. It's a beautiful shimmery turquoise/sea green base with blue glitter. I did three coats with two coats of Insta-Dri. It feels just like what a mermaid would choose for nail polish. I'm very smitten with it. And if the price tag is scaring you off, don't let it. This is such a unique color and you definitely won't be disappointed.
And now I've swatched both of the DL's that I own. Any recommendations for more? I'm probably not going to run out right away to get a few more but I've been highly impressed by the two I've got and would be open to some other joining my stash.

Wet N Wild 2% Milk

So after wearing Bite The Bullet, I had to head out and see what other Megalast polishes were out there. I was very intrigued about the nice off white creaminess that is 2% Milk so I decided for $2 I could give it a shot. And I love it far more than I could have anticipated. This is three coats, it looks a little more opaque in real life but I definitely still see my nail line. It's a fantastic palate cleanser, especially considering how blah I've felt about a lot of the colors I've worn lately. It feels clean and elegant and refined. I love it.
Any other Megalast polishes I should go looking for? I'm loving everything about this line right now.

Wet N Wild Bite The Bullet

My first Wet N Wild polish to share! I got the two that I own when Sam was here but I'm really tempted to get some more. This is Bite The Bullet. It's in my favorite color family, the slightly grey toned, putty purples. It's the lighter, brighter, more purpley cousin of Below Deck and Foie Gras. Formula was pretty good, great considering this polish was only $2. I did two coats but after really examining it, I probably should have done three. And the wider brush takes a bit of getting used to but ultimately, I loved it. I was doing some searching for other colors in this line that I might want and I came across this post from Nouveau Cheap about Wet N Wild adding 40 new shades! I'm beyond excited and definitely will be picking up a few more of these!
So how about it? Do you like the Wet N Wild Megalast polishes? Have you picked up any of the new ones? Do you have a favorite color family like I do?

China Glaze Grape Juice

I was feeling a China Glaze mood so I decided to pull out one of my favorite summer collections from them, Summer Days from summer 2009. This is Grape Juice. In natural light, it's more of a bright purple but in low/artificial light it's definitely more of an amethyst. Grape Juice is what China Glaze calls a glass fleck, which to me just looks shimmery, almost like a foil and nice and glossy. It's a pretty color but I'm not really over the moon for it. Thankfully, I didn't really have a choice on wear time. Two days after I put this on we went to Ikea and bought a bunch of furniture. It chipped pretty bad during the marathon 8 hours we were putting things together.
Speaking of which, I got a Helmer for polish storage! I'm absolutely thrilled with how perfect it is for polish storage. We also got bedroom furniture, which I had mentioned all the way back in October. Would anybody be interested in seeing our home projects and posts similar to that one, every once in a while? All of our projects are really picking up steam (which is part of why I'm working hard on my no buy) and it's so so exciting!

Zoya Reagan

My very last Zoya polish to share! This is Zoya Reagan. Reagan is a beautiful berry pink cream. Actually, if you have Revlon's Raspberry Pie Lip Butter, that's exactly what Reagan looks like. I'm surprised at how fantastically spring like this feels, considering it's not a pastel.  Not the most easy to work with formula but really not that bad either. This is two coats plus my trusty Insta Dri top coat. Normally I'm not one for pinks, but I'm so so happy with this color. It just makes me feel all bright and cheery inside!
I hope my swatches gave you some ideas of what you'd like to pick up from Zoya. I don't purchase from them very often but there are always at least a few on my lemmings list.

Zoya Tiffany

Ah, Zoya Tiffany. It's one of my very first Zoyas and I have quite the love/hate relationship with it. Tiffany is a pretty orangey copper foil. It's fairly sheer, this is three coats and it probably would need a fourth for full opacity. The formula was a bit tricky, part of my hate relationship with Tiffany. It's a touch runny and dry time is very long. This one takes some working with. But the color is just lovely. I am always a little sad when I put this on because I ordered it thinking it would be a rose gold and it just isn't.
Just one more Zoya to show you! Then I will move on to some more summery colors!

Zoya Carly

I am just so tired, it's hard to form coherent sentences but I'll try. This is Zoya Carly. It's a raspberry foil. The pic shows it quite bright and pinky but in low light/artificial light it looks more like a deep wine color. It doesn't blind me with its beauty but it does feel fancy on my nails. I don't know how to describe that. Anyways, formula was spot on. Easy to control, almost a one coater. Maybe I just had bad luck with the one or two I had mentioned before but it seems like the trend with Zoya is a fantastic formula! I just wish they were easier to locate in person.
Just two more Zoyas and then we are moving on to some decidedly summer colors!

Zoya Aurora

I'm absolutely in love with this color! This is Zoya's Aurora. It's a sheer raspberry jelly with a scattered holo effect. I did two coats which does make it look a bit transparent but I kind of like the way that looks. Three coats would have been fully opaque but I was just too lazy for that. The formula was fantastically easy to work with. Overall, a great polish and one I would definitely encourage you to get if you are looking to jump into Zoyas.
This year, I sort of made it a goal to not buy as much polish while I'm trying to work my way through my swatches. Until now, that hasn't been too difficult. I've fallen so hard for China Glaze's summer neons collection though! Transdesign will have it on May 1st and I'm tempted to order 6-8 of them plus a few other polishes I've been lemming. I don't plan on resisting but I'm hoping to not go completely overboard. Considering how well that worked in March, we will see what I'm come up with. Any other summer collections I should be taking a look at?

Zoya Mimi

Sigh :( So this is Zoya Mimi. I bought this specifically because I thought it would be everything I wanted Sally Hansen Loves Me Not to be. And it's not. Mimi is a very shimmery, foiled plum color. It's very lovely but I was disappointed by the tiny shimmer. I had looked up swatches before deciding to buy this and it seemed as if it had the big flaky pieces I was hoping for. Anyways, the formula was easy to work with. I did three coats with a coat of Insta-Dri. I'm only on my second day of wear and it still looks great. Not sure if it will last too long though as my disappointment has kind of spoiled wearing it. It will probably come off tomorrow.
Anyone know of a purple with flakies? I'm still on the hunt!

Zoya Kelly

This is Zoya Kelly, probably my favorite Zoya! Kelly is a deep purple tinted gray. I'm absolutely in love with it! It dries much darker than the bottle color. The formula is beautiful on this. It's very easy to control and only takes two coats. This polish is so special to me. I've worn it quite a few times. Most notably, this was the last polish I wore before my son was born. Yes, I do remember those types of things. It gives me fond memories of those last few weeks of being huge and just waiting. I even have a picture of it!

This was from our maternity shoot 9 days before he was born!
So that was much sappier than I intended. Am I the only person who has tied certain memories to a polish? Please tell me no!

Zoya Zuza

Summer 2012 brought probably my favorite collections from Zoya, Surf and Beach. Zuza is from the Surf collection, which is all foils and pretty shimmer. Zuza is a foiled aqua. The formula was smooth and easy to apply, which is quite a change from the last Zoya I showed, Charla. I'm quite happy with it, I was worried all my Zoyas would be difficult to apply. So far, no chipping. Just minor tip wear on day 2. It's a pretty unique to my stash color, as I don't have a lot of aqua/turquoise shades.
My blog got a little makeover yesterday! I'm still working on it so, any constructive feedback is most definitely welcome!

Illamasqua Mottle

So this was the second Illamasqua polish I just had to have! Mottle is a minty green base with three kind of black glitter in it. I used two coats, a thin one and then a thick one but I feel like three thin coats probably would've looked nicer. I was just being lazy. Lovely formula and like I said before my biggest complaint is that the cap doesn't come off. I could also add to the list of complaints how difficult removal is. Taking off Fragile was HORRIBLE. Still I'm super happy I picked this one up!
I'll probably go back to swatching my Zoyas for now. Does anyone have any requests for polishes you'd like to see? You can see a really up to date listing of what's in my collection in the link underneath the header!

Illamasqua Fragile

My first Illamasqua polish! As soon as I saw the promo pics for these, I knew I needed at least Fragile and Mottle. I couldn't wait to try this, so we will be taking a quick break from Zoyas so I can wear these. Fragile is a soft baby blue with three sizes of black glitter- microglitter, larger hex glitter and smaller round glitter. The effect is very much like a robin's egg (candy or the real thing, I think both!). This was three coats, with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri. The formula was absolutely great and absolutely made me want to try more from Illamasqua. My only problem is the square cap. I wish it was like Butter London's and the square part comes off because the size of it made it a little awkward to hold. Overall, I'm super happy with this and I'm glad I found it!
Anyone else manage to find these? Which were your favorites?

Zoya Charla

My sister requested that I swatch all my Zoyas so I figured we could start with Charla. Charla is a sheer blue base with greenish/yellowy shimmery flakes. On the nail, it looks like a foiled turquoise. This picture is indirect sunlight and it looks so shimmery and turquoise but in artificial lighting it looks like a richer deeper bluish green. Definitely a color a mermaid would wear! I'm undecided on how much I like this color. It's one of the colors I had built up in my head to be mind blowingly beautiful and I don't think it could ever live up to my expectations. The Zoya formula is one lots of people love but I find it tricky to work with. It's just a bit too thin for my taste. This was three coats and it's still a little sheer near the tips. It chipped majorly at about 24 hours when I was trying to install a new car seat in our car. Not something I would usually note but this came off in HUGE pieces.
Please tell me I'm the only one who has problems with Zoya? I'll keep trying, as I have 7 more to show you and I really want to love them. They come out with the prettiest colors and the bottle is one of my favorites.

Color Club Halo-Graphic

Another beautiful Color Club holographic polish! After I wore the first one, I knew I needed some more. So I picked this one up and I'm surprised that the displays have been mostly full when I see them (mind you, that was mid March so I'm not sure if they are still around Meijer stores). This is Halo-Graphic. It's hard to tell in the fluorescent lighting in the store if this was the purple or the pink of the collection but it's definitely pink. You can see the difference between the pointer and the pinky, how much this color can vary. Two easy coats and I'm still absolutely in love with this formula.
I'm hoping these kill any lemmings for the China Glaze holographics coming out this summer. The Color Clubs look like lighter, less intense colors than the China Glaze but I paid $6.99 plus tax for this and the CG are supposed to be $10! Anyone going to be hunting for those?

Color Club Angel Kiss

I was in Meijer the other day looking for something completely different and stumbled upon a full display of Color Club Halo Hues! So obviously I had to pick at least one. This is Color Club Angel Kiss. In the store I though it was a seafoam green but it's actually a light blue with just a hint of green to it. The holo on this? I die. It's beautiful and I can't stop staring at my hands. The formula for Angel Kiss was absolutely fantastic. It applied perfectly, I wish every polish was like this one. I did two coats plus Sally Hansen Insta-Dri. I'm on day three and absolutely no tip wear. I'm hoping I can go get a few more soon because this is so awesome!