China Glaze - Sea Spray (Anchors Away Collection, Spring 2011)

Having a no-buy policy makes me dive into the archives and find all kind of undiscovered gems! That is how I unearthed China Glaze Sea Spray, from the lovely Anchors Away Collection of 2011.
Sea Spray is a grey blue, blue leaning grey, grey leaning blue with a subtle hint of pearly shimmer. The shimmer is apparent in the bottle but on the nail it gives the polish more of a deepening effect preventing it to be a creme. The grey/blue was very light "reactive", in some lights it appears more of a light grey and in some it is more a greyish blue!

This is two layers with base and top coat:

China Glaze - Sea Spray

OPI - Embrace the Gray, OPI - Fly & OPI - Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window

As I said in my previous post: Embrace the Gray is a nice canvas for nailart......the proof is in the pudding!
I combined it here with OPI Uh-oh Roll Down the Window (Touring America Collection Fall 2011)
and OPI Fly (Nicki Minaj Collection 2012) in a kind of waterfall brushstroke art thing. In real life it was a bit more outspoken but not by much: I like the muted tones even though Fly is fairly bright. It was a nice and quick tip wear cover up ;-)

OPI - Embrace the Gray & OPI - Fly & OPI - Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window

OPI - Pulled Out a Plum (aka OPI - Congeniality is My Middle Name, Miss Universe Collection 2011)

OPI Pulled Out a Plum is a relabeled OPI polish and most probably it is Congeniality is My Middle Name from the 2011 Miss Universe collection. You can describe it as a deep fuschia wine/purple with loads of blue/purple and pink micro glitter and a slight golden flash in the bottle. Usually I'm not one for berry tones but this time I'm in love!! I wore this polish two times already in the last weeks (which is remarkable for me, perhaps even a first).

OPI - Pulled Out a Plum

The polish is quite thin, so I used three layers to reach full opacity. The polish is a bit topcoat hungry so an extra layer if top coat would improve the smoothness and shine. It wears beautifully, makes my hands look tanned and went with almost everything that I wore.
The jewel tone makes it especially festive and Christmas appropriate!

Nicole by OPI - I'm a Pool For Love (Shopper’s Drugmart (Canada) and Target (US) exclusives, 2011)

Big Bazar had a promotion again: 3 Nicole by OPI polishes for €12....you just can't pass that up, now can you?!
One of the three polishes I scored was Nicole I'm a Pool For Love, a deep grape blue/purple with blue and violet shimmer and some golden duo chrome to top it off. The duo chrome does not transfer to the nails, so that is just candy for the bottle. But the shimmer makes up for that loss: it really comes to live in the sun and it brightens the whole look. The polish was lovely and pigmented, two coats did the job.

Nicole by OPI - I'm a Pool For Love

Sorry for the hazy pictures...the weather is soooo gloomy, I just can't get the colours come to life....

China Glaze - Boundary of Memory (The Giver Collection, autumn 2014) and comparison with China Glaze In The City (Metro Collection, autumn 2011)

China Glaze and micro glitters: WOW they do them so well!
There are two in The Giver collection: Boundary of Memory and The Outer Edge. The last one is probably more of a topper but you could get it semi opaque on the nail if you really wanted to (and I DO, but I'll reserve that for later).
Today it is Boundary of Memory: a splendid mix of black, silver and copper gold micro glitter. The formula was a bit thick, like I was putting a sandy syrup on my nails but it was workable and completely opaque in two coats.

China Glaze - Boundary of Memory

I used Essence Nial Art Peel Off base coat and added one extra layer of topcoat (Essence Gel-Look XXXL shine) underneath China Glaze Fast Forward to even everything out. This whole sandwich was VERY hard wearing! It didn't chip at all and after a week I needed to work very hard to "peel" (more like hack and peck) the whole thing off again.
This glitter mix does remind me a bit of China Glaze In the City (China Glaze Metro collection for Fall 2011) but that polish had more of a lilac undertone and was thus a bit colder in hue.
I will put a comparison swatch up when I have time this week.......

Essie - Fair Game (Fair Game, Resort Collection 2011)

Polish on holiday number 4:

Ahhh, game watching in a resort in Africa >hmmmmm< sounds wonderful!

In the mini bottle I like Essie's Fair Game, it is a steel blue/grey with a hint of green, very edgy I thought ("I might even need it in a big bottle" I was contemplating..).
But then on the nail: *not so hot* I'm afraid.
It is way too frosty to my taste and the green is completely gone. It looks like a frosty steel grey with a hint of blue.

Essie - Fair Game

In the pics it looks better then in real life, I must admit. The formula was OK, a bit liquid but workable...this was two layers >I think< it could be three.
But the conclusion is: I don't need a big bottle of this one, YAH saving money here!!!

Essie - Cocktail Bling (Winter 2011 Cocktail Bling Collection)

Today I have Essie's Cocktail Bling for you, it is a neutral bluish grey that morphs between blue and grey depending on the light. It is from the 2011 winter collection but I really like to wear it now in spring as well.
The application was wonderful, two very easy coats.

Essie - Cocktail Bling

I love it; it is a very wearable colour and it looks very chique and fresh at the same time!