Essie: Turquoise & Caicos and Zoya's Vespa

I bought Turquoise & Caicos sometime last year, but I've only worn this colour on my toes.  I know this is a pretty popular shade and many people rave about it.  On my toes, it does look cute.  I decided to finally paint this on my fingers.  WOW!  This is pretty!  This is exactly what I LOVE about Essie creme polishes.  It's creme, gel like but opaque.  

I painted this late at night so I didn't noticed how much I missed my left pointer finger until the morning.  I promised a coworker that I would show her the texture of Pixie Dust since she was interested, so I did one accent nail of Zoya's Vespa.  Honestly, I think my manicure would have been just as pretty without the accent nail.

I did my nails at 10pm at night on a work night, and ended up layering 3 coats.  I'm not sure if that is necessary but from my lighting, it seemed like 2 coats was not enough.  My beef with 3 coats is that it usually feels heavy or it looks too thick.  After I was done, I didn't feel like I had too many layers on and it didn't put any weight on my fingers (this could all be in the mind but sometimes I feel it).  Also, I noticed that my right hand was painted a lot better than my left.  

All in all, for the entire time I had this manicure on, I was so happy with the look and finish.  Like, "yes! I'm so glad I wore this for this week!".  

Breakdown
Base coat: Nicole by OPI Base Coat Plus
Colour coat: Essie Turquoise & Caicos (3 coats) and Zoya's Vespa (1 coat on ring finger)
Top coat: Seche Vite

My left hand with accent nail.

A shot of my right hand without accent nail.  I do find that my left hand paints my right fingers better but the camera button on the right hand side makes it harder for my left hand to take pictures.

Another shot of my right hand.

I bought Turquoise & Caicos at Shoppers Drug Mart.  It is available in most stores since it's part of the permanent line.

Deborah Lippmann: Mermaid's Kiss

After I saw some promotion pictures or other beauty blogger's posts about Deborah Lippmann's continuation of the Mermaid theme, I knew I had to get Mermaid's Kiss.  Just because it's a bit different than anything else I had in my collection.  I resisted for a long time but I went shopping at Yorkdale mall and saw a Holt Renfrew and knew that I had to get it.   

Thoughts

The texture is matte and it's very glittery.  After I applied the polish, although I liked it, I just decided to remove it.  So removal was really difficult.  I didn't use a topcoat either.  I can't comment on the wear of this but I still think it looks very pretty even though I took it off pretty quickly.

Deborah Lippmann polishes might seem more pricey but the finishes are quite different.

I bought this at Holt Renfrew and it retails for C$22.00.

Essie: Maximillian Strasse-her

I swatched this back in May but I didn't have time to write up my thoughts.  Now that summer is almost over, I didn't actually wear this full out as a manicure.  I'm not sure why since it is a really pretty colour.  It's green but not flashy.  Though, to be honest, I spent most of my time wearing flashier colours this summer.  As I mentioned before I usually didn't wear bright warm colours but my favourites this summer happen to be Sunday Funday or Madison Ave-hue.  It's been months and I'm still surprised! 

Anyway back to Maximillian Strasse-her.  I found that the formula was pretty easy to work with.  My pictures might seem a little strange but that's cause I was having some bumpy nails at that time.  I'm going to try to bring this more into light during the fall. 

Breakdown
Base coat: Nicole by OPI Base Coat Plus
Colour coat: Essie Maximillian Strasse-her (2 coats)
Top coat: Nicole by OPI top coat

I bought Maximillian Strasse-her at Trade Secrets.

Essie: Tart Deco and Shine of the Times

Today I have Essie's Tart Deco with a Shine of the Times accent.  I took this picture a while ago, and you might notice since my fingers are a shade lighter? Well maybe you don't notice, and that's ok :)

Anyway, with all Essie polishes, usually the first coat is a little streaky but it all comes together by the second coat.  Which is like that with Tart Deco.  It's a very pretty peachy colour.  Shine of the Times is a flaky top effect.  

Breakdown
Base coat: Nicole by OPI Base Coat Plus
Colour coat: Essie Tart Deco (2 coats) and Essie Shine of the Times (1 coat on ring finger)
Top coat: Seche Vite

After top coat

Purchased by me at Shoppers Drug Mart.

Cult Nails Disciplined and Nicole by OPI Pick of the Glitter

I just posted my vacation nails and now I'm going to post my post-vacation nails.  I mentioned before that this was my third time in Paris.  My first time was in July, my second time was in October and now again in end of July/early August.  What I noticed this time around, and I guess I kind of always knew, is that the style in Paris is pretty relaxed and chic.  I went with my friend who is way more into fashion that I am, and she had expected eye catching/eye popping fashion or colours, but that's actually not the case.  Anyway, in the subway at separate occasions, I had noticed a few ladies with grey nail polish.  It's summer, so you'd expect bright colours right?  Well, I didn't see much of that.  For some, I didn't even notice any nail polish colour.  Anyway, since I've been sporting the bright colours all season long, I thought I'd go with a grey this time.  I wanted a change even before noticing it on other ladies.

Unrelated but this is my favourite view of Paris.  On the Seine River facing the Eiffel Tower.

I bought Cult Nails' Disciplined a while ago before I owned Illamasqua's Rain Drops.  NOPI Pick of the Glitter I bought at Target Canada.  I've never seen this in other stores so I'm not sure if this is a Target exclusive, but it's very pretty.  I love the chopper glitter with gold and teal hexagram glitter.  

I added the glitter accent, but that's not what I saw in Paris.  I just felt like adding it.  :)

Bottle shot: There's a flash of blue and fushia shimmer

Bottle shot: NOPI Pick of the Glitter

Thoughts
This is my first Cult Nails colour.  I must have applied it incorrectly or something because I applied three coats to have it somewhat opaque.  My right hand, I accidentally left more polish, so for a thicker coat it is easier for it to be more opaque.  I did notice that even with Seche Vite, this took a very long time to dry.  Overall, I really like the colour.  It's grey but since there's fushia and blue shimmer, it adds a lot more to the colour that isn't your typical grey. In the daylight, it's very pretty.  At home with my lighting, I was worried that the glitter would make it look like it's for the holiday season but in the sunlight, I thought it went together pretty nicely.  The gold hex glitter isn't the holiday gold, it's a light gold.

Breakdown
Base coat: Nicole by OPI Base Coat Plus
Colour coat: Cult Nails Disciplined (3 thin coats) and NOPI Pick of the Glitter (1 coat on ring finger)
Top coat: Seche Vite

1 coat

2 coats

3 coats

With NOPI glitter accent with a lot of glitter

Right hand with less hex glitter but more chopper glitter

I purchased Cult Nails Disciplined on the Cult Nails website but this is now available on nailpolishcanada.com.  NOPI was bought at Target Canada.