OPI I'm Not Really a Waitress

Purchased

Hi, and happy Friday everyone. I hope you all had an awesome Halloween. I can't believe that it's over already. At least we have Christmas to look forward to. Today's swatch actually reminds me a little bit of Christmas. OPI I'm Not Really a Waitress is a classic red with a great shimmer. I have a really old black label bottle of this one. I was digging through my Helmer looking for something to wear the other day when I came across it. I hadn't worn it for so long and I thought it would be fun to swatch it.

I don't know why I don't wear this shade more. It's a really beautiful red and the shimmer is just gorgeous. I only needed 2 coats to get the finish you see below. 

While it may not be the most unique shade in the market, it's pretty classic and I think it would look good on almost anyone. 

I definitely think I'll be busting out I'm Not Really a Waitress this holiday season. It's the perfect Christmas color!

What do you guys think? Do you have this one in your stash, too?

Barry M Copa-Cabana

Purchased

Hi, everyone! Wow has it really been a month since my last post? Geez I guess time really does fly. I admit that painting my nails has taken a backseat lately due to other commitments on my time. So sorry this blog isn't very consistent. I don't know when I'll be able to blog more regularly but I hope you'll still pop by from time to time.

Alright, so today's polish is another one from my European haul. It's Barry M Matte in Copa-Cabana. This is a really bright red almost leaning to coral. The finish is more of a satin than matte as you can see below.

Reds and oranges can be hard to capture on camera and I did have some issues with this. It looks slightly more orange in these pics than it does in real life. I really liked this shade. It's super fun and bright. The formula was amazing and it was super pigmented. I did 2 coats here but you might be able to get away with one if you're careful. Shown here without topcoat.

Like I said, it's not super matte but has more of a rubbery, satin finish. I actually like this finish a lot so I wasn't disappointed. If, however, you want a true matte, I would just slap a matte top coat on it.

I am very impressed with this line so far. Every polish I've tried has had amazing color payoff and I love that they have some unusual shades and finishes. I really wish it was readily available in the States though I know you can purchase it online.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to have another post up later this week. :)

Zoya Chyna

Purchased

Hi, guys. I hope you all had a nice long weekend. I had a good weekend and that extra day off was just awesome. I feel so refreshed and not tired. I really wish every week was a 4 day work week. One can dream. Today I have one of the classic Zoya Pixie Dust polishes. Chyna was one of the original Pixie Dusts if I remember correctly. I did not manage to snag it when it first came out by fixed that with my Zoya Earth Day order.

Chyna is a beautiful and deep cherry red polish with tons of red and silver glitter. This is a textured polish so it dries matte. The formula was thick (like most textures) but not problematic. It was very pigmented and the glitter payoff is fantastic. These swatches are 2 coats over base coat and no top coat. 

I don't usually put top coat on my textured polishes since I like their intended finish, but I have a feeling that this one would be really pretty with some top coat on it. 

This is a winner for me and I am glad to finally own it. I love all of the Pixie Dusts I've tried so far though I have not had the chance to try the Magical Pixie Dusts yet. Not sure if they'll be too chunky for me but I should pick one up the next time I place a Zoya order.

That's it for me. Hope you're having a wonderful week so far!

OPI Animal-istic

Purchase

Hello again. I hope you've all been having a fantastic week. The weather continues to be uncommonly warm where I am. On the one hand, I love the pretty sun but on the other, I really wish we had more seasons. I guess you can't have it all. :) Today I have OPI Animal-istic, which was released a couple of years ago as part of a Muppets collection. I didn't get this when it first came out because, while pretty, it did not look super original. But then I saw it and a bunch of other polishes for a steal on a blog sale, and I decided to throw it in with my order.

Animal-istic is a pretty, warm glass fleck red. I like glass flecks so this one was right up my alley. It's a little sheer, as I think you can see in my photos, but that's the nature of glass fleck and I was fine with it. If you want something more opaque you can do more coats. For my swatches, I did 2. Shown here with top coat.

I still don't think it's a super original color but it's fun and a nice addition to your collection if you don't have anything like it already. 

Thanks for coming by today. :)

Pahlish Lullaby Without End

Purchase

Hi, everyone! I am sorry it's been so long since my last swatch post. Work's been super crazy and I just haven't had the energy to do a lot of swatching and photo editing in my off time. I am going to try to be better though, because I have lots of fun polishes I want to show you.

This week I have Pahlish Lullaby Without End to show you.  It's from the recent All of Space and Tinne collection. I'm rubbish at describing polishes but this is a bright cherry red that has a somewhat jelly consistency and is full of blue and red glitter. The Pahlish website describes it much better. Here is the description from the website.

Vivid coral red jelly that leans pink with soft shimmer and blue metallic glitter accented with iridescent orange hex.

This polish is really bright and fun. I love that the base isn't super sheer, nor is it so opaque that it obscures the glitters. The finish is just right. I didn't have to do any fishing for glitter. As I said, it's kind of jelly-ish so it's not going to be fully opaque unless you wear another shade underneath or use a lot of layers. I preferred to have that squishy jelly look and used 2 coats for these swatches. It is glitter so you'll need top coat to smooth it out. I think I just needed one coat of top coat. 

sorry this is blurry

Blue and red is one of my favorite combos and I think this polish is gorgeous. It's my first foray into Pahlish and I'm already looking forward to my next order.

Did anyone else pick up this collection? Thanks for vising and have a lovely week!

OPI Animalistic

Hello there! I hope you guys all had a fun weekend. I didn't really do anything too exciting, but it was nice to have some downtime. Today's polish is OPI Animalistic. This came out a year or two ago and was a part of their Muppets collaboration. I have a soft spot for the Muppets and we even named my childhood dog Gonzo. :) I wasn't really interested in this one until I spotted it on a blog sale for $1. I mean, how can I pass up OPI for $1? 

Animalistic is a bright red that leans a little orange with a great glass fleck finish. China Glaze does this finish really well and this one was no exception. I used two coats below without top coat. As you can see, it's still a bit squishy looking, but that's the beauty of a glass fleck glitter. 

I don't think this is the most original color in my collection but I still like it because of the Muppets connection and it's pretty. No real issues with the formula. If you don't already have a color like this, it might be worth a second look. 

Speaking of The Muppets, is anyone else excited about the new Muppets movie? I already have a date with a friend lined up to see it. :)

Rescue Beauty Lounge Killa Red

Hello and happy hump day. I hope everyone's week is going by quickly. Each day is one day closer to Christmas. :) Today I have another Rescue Beauty Lounge polish to show you. Originally I wasn't sure if I wanted this one. I have plenty of reds in my collection and wasn't sure if this one would be worth it. In the end though, the name put it over the top and I placed an order for it.

Killa Red is a beautiful medium blue-based red jelly. Formula on this was perfection and it still has that slightly squishy look of a jelly but it super pigmented, requiring only 2 coats for a gorgeous finish. Sorry, I can't remember if I had applied top coat in these pics.

I am so, so glad I got this one. I fell in love with it on the first coat and am definitely adding it to my list of holy grail reds. There's just something so classic about it and I can see it working on a variety of skin tones. Formula was also fantastic and a dream to apply. I love this so much I am considering getting a backup of it. I want to go through my stash to see if I have anything similar but, so far, I haven't found an exact match.

This may not look like the most unique red but I love it. If you are a fan of reds or need a good, classic red, Killa Red is a knockout. The name is also fabulous and I feel like a sultry noir character when I wear it.

What do you think? Are you a fan of reds? I'd love to know what your favorite red polish shade is.

Zoya Payton

Happy hump day! I am on vacation right now so I guess there's no real hump for me to get over but still. I have been hanging out with my niece a lot and have been trying to get some holiday shopping out of the way. I have bought a little bit of nail polish but not a ton. But I haven't visited the local beauty supply store yet. no doubt I will pick up some things when I finally make a trip out there.

Today I have a beautiful polish from Zoya's Zenith collection. Payton is a deep cranberry with tons of scattered holo glitter. The finish on Payton is a lot like the scattered holos that Zoya put out last year. If you liked those, you'll probably like Payton. No problems with the formula. I used 2 coats below with one coat of Poshe on top. All photos taken outside in sunlight.

Though not quite as sparkly as my beloved Aurora, I still really like Payton. It's a fun shade for a scattered holo and very appropriate for fall. 

Did you get anything from the Zenith collection? Yay or nay on the scattered holo?

Zoya Posh

Hi, everyone! If you didn't know, Zoya is bringing back some of their Matte Velvet polishes. With texture being the trend right now, it's refreshing to see something a little different. Zoya was one of the first brands that I knew who really embraced that matte trend. They came out with 4 gorgeous shades (and I think 3 summer shades) all with their Matte Velvet finish. And right now, you can pre-order the original shades at a great price. I thought I had them all but I could not find Dovima for the life of me and may just have to order it. Let's take a look at the polish, shall we? All photos below taking outside in sunlight.

Posh is a pink leaning red. When Zoya says Matte Velvet, they really mean it. This isn't your traditional matte polish and it definitely has a sort of lit from within shimmer that gives the polish a very soft, velvet-y appearance. It's weird because it's matte but it's also not really. I love how it just glows. 

If I recall correcly this is supposed to be worn without base or top coat but I did use base coat. This did not affect application at all and it took just 2 buttery coats. 

This is a seriously beautiful polish, people. After putting it on, I thought to myself " Why don't I wear this more often?" No real answer to that but I am definitely going to start wearing these more because they are awesome. I am going to try to swatch the other Matte Velvets soon. If they are all as lovely as this then I may need to get back ups.  

Anyone else in love with these? If you don't have them, are you planning to get them? Thank you for coming by today. Have a good week!

Zoya Pepper

Hello again. I hope that you're all having a wonderful weekend. Surprisingly I don't really have any plans this weekend so I'll probably end up just lazing about the house. It's been a bit cloudy around these parts lately, hence the cooler one to my pics. I am not really great at color correcting so just let it be known that today's swatch pics were taken on a cloudy day.

Zoya Pepper is a reddish brown (brownish red?) creme from the Zoya Cashmere collection from this past fall. Zoya does some really awesome cremes and this one is a winner. This is a great color for fall. It totally reminds me of turning leaves and the rich, warm tones of the season. The formula on this was great and I used 2 coats below. I did use a top coat though it was already pretty shiny on its own.

I got this color when Zoya was doing their CAMO promotion. I bought some polishes and then got 4 free polishes from the Cashmere collection. Seriously, Zoya has the best promos. This probably would not be a color that I would normally get on my own. It's a little subdued for me. However, I am glad that I have it now and it's unique in my collection.

What are your favorite fall nail polish colors?

Sally Hansen Red-io Active

Happy Monday, everyone. This weekend seriously flew by. The heat wave continues here and I have spent most of my time indoors. I did try to do some swatching this weekend but the sun was so bright that even that was hard. Today I have a beautiful new polish from Sally Hansen's Insta-Dr line. I usually avoid this line because I hate the bottles with their long, skinny necks and the super wide, flat brush. However, this color looked too gorgeous to pass up.

Red-io Active (I have the hardest time saying that) is a dazzling red that is one of those lit from within shades. It has a serious glow to it that can be seen even in the shade. The sun was super bright out so my swatches are probably a little warmer than the actual color. The formula was great and I only used 1 coat below. There were a couple of nails that could have used 2 coats but I did not want to deal with the brush and bottle so 1 coat it was.

lighting: shade

You do have to be a bit careful when applying or you may get some brush strokes. But I literally slapped this on before work and it looked pretty good. I used top coat to make it extra shiny but you might be able to get away without it. All in all I am very impressed with this color. I picked up one other shade from this collection but I may be back for more since they were all pretty awesome looking. I still hate the brush and bottle but this color is worth it.

Have you picked up anything from this collection yet? Does the Insta-Dri bottle annoy anyone else as much as it annoys me?

Bondi New York Horny Mistress

**It has recently come to my attention that there have been issues with Bondi and their subscription box. I, personally, had no issues with ordering and receiving my polishes, but recently other people have. Though I don't know all of the facts, you may want to do some research on the brand before purchasing and exercise caution. A simple internet search should give you more info and you can check out the reviews on their Facebook page.**

Happy hump day! Bondi New York is a brand that is pretty new to me. Profits from their sales all go to various charities which sounds like an awesome idea. They are a bit pricey ($12.50 each) but they were having a BOGO sale over Memorial Day weekend so I decided to grab a couple of colors to see how I liked them.

So I admit that I picked this color, Horny Mistress, based on name alone. I mean how could I resist? Horny Mistress is a medium toned blue based red (looks a bit more orange in my pic than real life). The formula was good and I had no issues with it. Bondi New York is 5-free meaning no formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, camphor, toluene and DBP. Here I am wearing 2 coats with no top coat.

This isn't the most exciting color but, if you like a good red creme and don't have one already, this might be a nice addition to your collection. Like I said, I got it for name alone and am quite happy with it. The color selection for Bondi isn't necessarily the most innovative but they have some pretty shades in there. They are a bit pricey I think for what you get but they do seem to have frequent sales. I also really like that the proceeds go to charity so I can justify my nail polish spending even more. :)

Have you ever bought a nail polish based on name alone? C'mon, I know you have!

**It has recently come to my attention that there have been issues with Bondi and their recent subscription box. I, personally, had no issues with ordering and receiving my polishes but other people have. Though I don't know all of the facts, you may want to do some research on the brand before purchasing and exercise caution. A simple internet search should give you more info and you can check out the reviews on their Facebook page.**