Essie Naughty Nautical

   After purple, teal is probably my favorite color.  It also happens to be the main color of my favorite sports team, Go Sharks!, so that's a nice bonus.  What this really means though, is that I'm always a sucker for a new teal polish.  Especially one with sparkle.

   Naughty Nautical is the name sake polish of the Summer 2013 Naughty Nautical collection.  This is a blue-leaning teal with silver micro-shimmer.  It's almost a crelly polish, but is just a little too opaque.  The formula is on the thin side, but application was good.  I used 2 coats of polish over Finger Paints base coat and no top coat.

Direct Sun

Indoor Natural Light

Indoor with Flash

Ninja Polish Nebula

   Happy Friday all.  I hope you all have had a good week.  Aside from a migraine early in the week mine's been pretty good, just busy.  Today I have a gorgeous polish from Ninja Polish to show you.  For those of you not familiar with Ninja Polish they carry not only their own brand of polish, but also some other indie polish brands and brands from other countries that are harder to get in the US.

   Nebula is a multi-chrome holographic glitter polish.  The base is clear and jam packed with tiny glitters that shift from green to teal to purple and some holographic glitters.  It's sheer enough that you can use it as a glitter top coat over another polish but can also be built up and worn on its own.  If you want to wear it alone I would suggest thicker coats to keep down the number of layers.  You will still have a few sparse spots, but this polish is so sparkly and blingy that you won't notice them for the most part.  
   I found the formula to be good and application was easy, especially for a glitter polish.  For the photos below I used 3 coats of Nebula over a base of Orly Bonder and Duri Rejuvacote.  For my topcoat I did one layer of Gelous to help smooth out everything and a final layer of NYC Grand Central Station for a quick dry time.

Indirect Sun

Indoor Blurred

    I did a blurred shot to show you the holographic glitters.  Please click on the photos above for an enlarged view to see the color shift better.  I wore this as my Fourth of July mani to give a fireworks effect to my nails.  I loved the color shift and rainbows that showed up in all different types of lighting.  The biggest issue I had was how distracting it was, especially when I was driving.  The colors are extremely hard to capture in photos and trust me this is much more beautiful in person.  If you like multi-chromos or holographic glitters, I highly recommend Nebula.  The price was $9 plus a few dollars for shipping, which I found very reasonable for an indie polish.

Color Club Abyss

   I've noticed that my local beauty supply tends to get new collections in early.  Which is sometimes very dangerous for me.  But also pretty fun.  Especially when I find polishes and collections out that I haven't even heard about yet.  Like the Color Club Kaleidoscope collection.  I'm not sure if this is a Spring or Summer collection, but a couple of the colors looked pretty.  I only grabbed one- Abyss.

   Abyss is a medium teal creme that leans very green.  I don't think these photos are completely color accurate, but they should give you a general idea.  This is one of those shades that just don't want to play nice with my camera.
   Formula and application were great on this polish.  This could potentially be a 1 coat polish, but I used 2 to cover some minor streaks and baldish spots.  I think those spots and streaks were more from my nails and application than the polish itself.  If you look closely though, you will be able to see any ridges you have in your nails.  My base coat was Nail Tek Foundation II and I did not use a top coat.

Direct Sun

Indoor Natural Light

Indoor with Flash

China Glaze Altered Reality

   The third and final China Glaze Tranzitions shade I have to show you is Altered Reality.

   Altered Reality is a teal metallic shade without top coat.  I get a bit of a frosty feel on the nail.  I had several issues with this polish.  The formula was a little runny and needs thinner coats for best application.  But, if you use too thin of coats because then you get lumps and streaking.  I used 2 coats of Altered Reality over Finger Paints base coat.

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Indoor Natural Light

Indoor with Flash

   Adding top coat causes much less streaking with Altered Reality, however there is very little color changing.  If you use a thicker coat of top coat you get a bit more color difference which you should be able to see on my thumb.  I used China Glaze Fast Forward top coat and did the same patterns as the other 2 polishes in this collection.

Direct Sun

Indoor Natural Light

Indoor with Flash

   Altered Reality was a big disappointment.  I loved the color in the bottle, but once I had it on, the slight frostiness turned me off.  The minimal color change was sad as well, this one could have had lots of potential.  I only wore this for maybe 30 minutes, and on removal I already started noticing signs of staining.  I would definitely pass on this one.

Disclaimer:  The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the company for consideration. 

Zoya Gloss Collection

   Recently, jelly polishes have gained a lot of popularity.  I'm happy about this because I love the versatility of them and the squishy look they have.  For Fall 2012 Zoya has given us 3 new jellies in the Gloss collection.
   For all three of these polishes I used Finger Paints base coat and no top coat.  To show you how well these build I did a different number of coats on each finger starting with one coat on my pinky and going to four coats on my index finger.  

Paloma

   Paloma is a nice berry shade.  It starts out a bit streaky with just one or two coats, but evens out at about three.  Formula was good, but coverage can be a bit uneven if you aren't careful with your application.

Direct Sun

Indoor Natural Light

Indoor with Flash

Read on after the jump for the rest of the collection....

Zoya Wednesday and Zuza

   I hope everyone had a good and safe holiday this week.  Whether you grilled out with some friends or hit the beach or just stayed in out of the crazy heat affecting most of the country.  

   The second set of polishes I'm showing you from the Zoya Beach & Surf collections for Summer 2012 are Wednesday and Zuza.  

   Wednesday is a light teal creme.  The interesting thing about this polish is how much other colors around it cause the green/blue balance to shift.  When close to something blue, the polish looks more green, but when close to something green, the polish looks more blue.  The formula was excellent, application very smooth, and the polish levels itself out very nicely.  I used Finger Paints base coat, 2 coats of polish, and no top coat.

Direct Sun

Indoor with Natural Light

Indoor with Flash

   Zuza is a light teal metallic foil with silver shimmer.

   Even though the shimmer is silver, I still get a sense of warmth from the polish.  Application was good, but the formula was a little thin.  I used 2 coats of polish over Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler base coat.  Please ignore any bubbles you see, I think the ridge filler is causing them.

Direct Sun

Indoor with Natural Light

Indoor with Flash

   I liked both of these polishes.  But of the two I prefer Wednesday.  The creaminess and lightness appeal to me.  

Disclaimer: The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the company for consideration.

Essie Go Overboard

   Go Overboard is from one of the new Essie Spring 2012 collections.  I'm not sure if this is permanent of limited, the display at Target, where I picked this one up at, isn't overly clear.  But I must say I have been very impressed lately with how quickly Target has been getting and putting out the new Essie collections.  

   Go Overboard is a medium teal creme.  It has good pigmentation but the formula wanted to run instead of staying where I wanted it.  This led to some extra clean up at the end. I used 1 med thick coat in these shots, but I think 2 thinner coats might work better to control where the polish goes more.  My base was Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler and I didn't use a top coat.  The polish dries about 1 shade darker than the bottle color.

Direct Sun

Shade

Indoor

   I like this shade a lot.  I've been really drawn to teals lately.  The extra clean up wasn't too bad and I didn't notice any staining starting.  But I think I'll definitely try 2 thin coats next time instead.  What do you lovelies think of Go Overboard?

Nicole by OPI Kardashian Collection Part 1 - Cremes and Jellies

   There are a couple of ways to divide the Nicole by OPI Kardashian collection.  One is by Kardashian, but honestly I can never keep them straight so that's not a good option for me.  The other is by finish.  This works much better for me so that's how I'm splitting the reviews.  The first part is the cremes and jellies.  There are 6 polishes in this part versus 8 polishes in the shimmers and glitters part.  For all of these swatches I used Beauty Secrets base coat and Diamond Dry top coat.  Unless otherwise noted, these are 2 coats each.

All Kendall-ed Up

   All Kendall-ed Up is a bright pink creme.  The formula is a bit thin and can have a bit of cuticle drag if you don't wait a few minutes between coats.  In person this polish is just a little bit more blue toned than the pictures show.

Direct Sun

Shade

Indoor

Kourt is Red-Y for a Pedi

   From the bottle Kourt looks like an orange leaning red creme, but as soon as I opened the bottle and looked at the brush I realized it is actually a jelly.  1 coat gives good coverage, but 2 is a little more opaque while still retaining sheer squishy look that makes jellies so fun.  I used 1 coat on my pinkie, middle, and thumb and then 2 coats on my ring and index fingers.  The longer I had the polish on, the more I liked it.  I think because of the squishy feel.

Direct Sun

Shade

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Zoya Cynthia

   Cynthia is the last of my Zoya Smoke collection reviews.  This one is an almost black teal.   

   I love the bottle color of Cynthia.  Sadly though it does not stay that color.  She dries much darker and actually looks black in most light.  I had no issues with formula or application.  2 coats achieved full opacity.  Base coat was China Glaze Strong Adhesion base and Top Coat was Barielle Manicure Extender.  Because Cynthia is such a deep blue there is potential for staining with longer wear.

Direct Sun

Shade

Indoor

   Cynthia has potential, but falls a little to far on the black side to me.  I may play around with this one a little or maybe use as a layering base.

Disclaimer:  The product(s) in this post were sent to me by the company for review.

Barielle Do Unto Others

   Barielle is a line I haven't really talked about on here before.  Except for the Manicure Extender top coat I use regularly.  So today I'm going to feature a polish from Barielle's new Karma Kollection.  Do Unto Others is a nice medium light teal creme polish.

   The formula on Do Unto Others was really nice and it is well pigmented.  I used one coat in these pictures, but would probably use 2 next time as there is still just a hint of visible nail line in bright light.  Application was smooth and easy as well.  My base coat consisted of 1 coat Seche Rebuild and 1 coat China Glaze Strong Adhesion base.  I then topped everything off with 1 coat Manicure Extender.  Sadly it was overcast when I wore this so I don't have any direct sun photos for you.

Outdoors

Indoor

   Do Unto Others really is a lovely rich teal.  If you've never tried any Barielle polishes you should check them out.  The Barielle website runs sales fairly often or you can find them at Ulta and other beauty supply locations.