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?

Studio M Spring Fling

Isn't this awesome? It looks just like a Prismatic from China Glaze. It's actually Studio M Spring Fling. Spring Fling is a light blue microglitter base with small fuchsia glitters and larger round silver holo glitter! This is my first Studio M polish and I'm completely in love with it. This was three coats plus Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat but this is a very top coat hungry polish. This is way more awesome that it's coming across in the picture. If you happen to have a Meijer near you, run and pick this one up! You won't be disappointed!
Studio M is a brand that, as far as I know, is only sold in Meijer stores. They have limited edition collections, which you can find in special displays on the side of an endcap, in addition to the core collection which hangs out with the other polishes in the cosmetics area. The limited edition collections seem to be a mix of limited edition colors, core colors, repromotes and rebottles of Color Club colors. I found this particular color in the "Hop Into Spring's Hottest Colors" display and I have not seen it in the core collection. Studio M polishes retail for $2.99.
I'll definitely keep an eye on Studio M from now on! This was a fantastic find and such a cheap thrill! Anyone else love Studio M colors? Any I need to pick up?

Butter London No More Waity, Katie

The first non OPI polish of 2013! This is the only other Butter London polish I own, besides Lovely Jubbly. Honestly, I wanted it mostly for the name because I do so love Wills and Kate but the color is actually really interesting. NMWK is a sheer gray base with lavender glitter. This is three coats and you can see that it's still not perfectly even. The formula on this was nice, no dragging like I had expected. I did use Sally Hansen Insta-Dri and it wasn't as top coat hungry as some polishes tend to be but it definitely has some grit to it. It's also not wearing very well. I'm on day two and I've already got some tip wear. Even with a sheer formula and tip wear, I definitely recommend this polish! I honestly can't think of any that are similar.
Any requests for things you'd like to see?

OPI The Living Daylights

Yay glitter! I think I'm going to try to finish out my James Bond polishes since we seem to be on a roll with them! This is The Living Daylights which is over On Her Majesty's Secret Service. TLD is copper, gold, silver and turquoise hex glitter in a clear base. I did one coat and this only took minor dabbing and pushing from me to get a nice spread of glitter. Overall, I really love this glitter. I think it fits the collection well and can go over a lot of the polishes. I'm just not sure what it is about this polish, it feels like a more grown up glitter. I definitely recommend a thick topcoat over it, just to keep the glitter particles from catching on things. One of my favorites from the collection for sure!
Would anyone be interested in seeing a round up post of these polishes once I finish? I know I say this one's my favorite in a ton of posts but maybe I could make a list of the ones I feel like are really really worth owning?

Nails Inc. Sweets Way

My very first Nails Inc polish! I saw swatches of these Sprinkles polishes months ago and vowed to get all of them. When Sam and I went to Sephora they were out of a couple and of the few they had left only two appealed to me. Sweets Way is blue, pink and white glitter in a milky blue base. Application was just fine, three coats to opacity but this sucker is top coat hungry. My only complaint is that the cap makes the brush a little awkward for me to hold. This is a unique color (at least in my collection) but it doesn't completely wow me like I thought it would. I'm still happy with it though.
Can anyone else believe September is almost half over already? Summer seemed to drag on and I was so happy when we got to fall but now it's going too fast. Seriously, September through December is my favorite time. Plus Fall and Holiday nail polish collections are always my favorites!

Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe

AHHH! I love this! I was wanting it pretty badly when I got it but for real, this is incredible! Uriah actually picked this one for me to wear and I'm so glad I did. Across the Universe is a blue jelly with light blue and green glitter. This is 4 coats plus Colorstay top coat. I probably could have stopped at 3 but there was a little bit of unevenness that I wanted to fix. Formula was fantastic. I didn't have to fool around to get lots of the big glitters on my nails. I got just the right amount with a normal technique. Overall, this is a fantastic polish. I don't have anything else like it!

Butter London Lovely Jubbly

So hey, I'm back. Long time no see. Sam was here last week, she actually left almost a week ago. And as you can imagine, lots of fun times were had and many bottles of polish were purchased. This was one of them. It's one of my first Butter London polishes. I saw this on the Fall 2012 press release and I was like hmmm, how close is that to a China Glaze Prismatic. Answer is: very similar. The finish is very very close to that of the pristmatics. The glitter is a little more fine and the formula was a little frustrating. On my index finger is three coats, the other three are four coats. I had to let each coat dry completely or the glitter would clump up and be deposited at my tips. Not cool. It's a gorgeous color though and totally worth it. I also used a new topcoat - Revlon Colorstay. Of course using it with a glitter is not going to give me a fantastic idea of how well it works but I really needed a new one.
Now that the actual number of swatches doesn't matter to me, I'm considering posting more on this blog than just nail swatches. I actually have other hobbies besides nail polish but I'm not sure if I want to blog about them here or not. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

OPI Rainbow Connection

Can we all take a moment to appreciate how lovely this is? ....Mmmm....Yes, I'm in love with this combo. Three coats of SH Parchment, topped with one coat of OPI Rainbow Connection and then one coat of OPI's top coat. It looks like sparkly sprinkles on frosting or something! I tried not to be too fussy with the glitter and just let whatever came off the brush be what I had. I didn't dab it on or anything. I've been wearing this a few days. If there are any chips or tipwear, I'm not noticing it. I was hoping I would get some kind of Fourth of July mani done but I'm not sure if that will happen tonight or not. I still have one more Sally Hansen to swatch!

22/55 polishes swatched

27 more days

China Glaze Prism

 

 This has turned out to be my favorite polish I have ever worn, hands down. China Glaze Prism came out with the Prismatics collection and yet again, swatches online will never do this justice. Even the best swatchers can't capture this level of awesomeness. It flashes blue and purple but it's always so multidimensional and sparkly. Three coats, with base coat and seche vite. It did eat my top coat but I really didn't care. Removal can be a pain. I used the tinfoil method and it came off easily and mess free. Not that you are going to want to take it off. Overall, if you can get your hands on these, do it. You will not be disappointed.

China Glaze Optical Illusion

That crack in my pinkie is finally gone! I finally broke down and picked up 3 of the new China Glaze Prismatics. I wasn't sure I was going to like them when I saw swatches online but I figured there had to be a good reason everyone was going gaga over these. And oh yes, the mayhem is totally justified. This is Optical Illusion. It kind of shifts from blue to green to silver. I wish I could have captured the green. It makes me think of mermaids! I'm so in love with this color. I can't see the holo China Glaze claims is in this but it's so intense, I don't really think I need to notice the holo.
In a side note, I was trying to no buy but clearly, this polish (and three others) was the end of that. I'm still trying to be conservative with my polish buying. I have so many untrieds, it's ridiculous.