Chanel le Vernis - Fortissimo (Blue Rhythm Collection 2015)

Oh la la, let's be posh today!

I plucked Chanel's Fortissimo from the drawer; it was lurking there in the dark and evading me for months already. It is the dark blue from the Blue Rhythm Collection by Chanel last year.
It looks like a fairly common dark blue with shimmer in the bottle BUT it is not so much so. Fortissimo is a crelly (more a jelly then a creme) with lit-from-within-shimmer! The first coat is not very pigmented and weirdly siropy, the second coat makes all the difference. The result is a glasslike dark blue with the blue shimmer.

The formula is very strange and like a siropy glue, you have to paint very slowly and allow drytime in between layers otherwise you'll end up with loads of bubbles........

Chanel le Vernis - Fortissimo

Nicole by OPI - Pink-nic in the Parc (with China Glaze Queen B stamping) Something About Spring 2011

Pink-nic in the Parc is a sheer pearly/shimmer pink with a hot pink flash I got for a few bucks in a discount store. With a stamping attempt I tried to distract from the sheerness. China Glaze Queen B is a ocw so it should stamp OK according to my calculations, but the stamping plate was perhaps a bit too subtle or my stamper was too hard (I think I used my konad stamper here) or I just can't stamp (yet)! The colours are nice together but that's about all: I kind of think this mani is a bit of a fail.

Nicole by OPI - Pink-nic in the Parc

Deborah Lippmann - La Vie en Rose (Spring Reveries, 2014)

A neutral with coppery shimmer hidden in there somewhere....!
Deborah says about this polish: "The color of a daydream, this soft pink shimmer floats over nails for a finish that’s nothing short of ethereal. Wear alone or layer it over another lacquer—the effect is magical."
Well Sounds wonderful, the reality falls a bit short! To call this a pink is far stretched it is more of a milky off white to the pink side. The shimmer is beautiful in the bottle but on the nail you have to search for it, hard.
It was streaky as well!

I tried to catch the shimmer in all kinds of lights but it is very illusive.

Deborah Lippmann - La Vie en Rose

Essie - Time for Me Time (Suite Retreat, Resort Collection 2015)

Essie Time for Me time from the Resort Collection 2015 as a nice fresh palate cleanser.
It is a kinda sheer nude/pink/beige with a pink flash in the right light.
I am not sure if I did two or three coats here, but you'll allways have vnl with this one I guess.
It was not enormously streaky that I can remember, but I have been reading around and not everybody is unanimous on this point.....
Any way: I love the result, it is nice and fresh and neutral, it fits my skintone and I like the subtle shimmer.

Essie - Time for Me Time

OPI - Love Athletes in Cleats (MLB Collection, 2014)

Again a polish I wore last year.....OPI Love Athletes in Cleats, it's from the MLB Collection, that is it's baseball related. It was a little extra colllection that year and for me this was the only polish that was remotely interesting. The rest was just too frosty and/or boring to my taste.

Love Athletes in Cleats is a rasberry red with loads of silver/pearly white glass flecks floating around.
I remember the consistency of the polish being a bit fluffy but workable.

OPI Love Athletes in Cleats

Essie - Haute Tub (Virgin Snow Collection, winter 2015)

Essie Haute Tub (bizarre name, by the way), has a sort of duochrome shimmer to give it a bit of umph. The base colour is a very dark blackened aubergine (but I swear it is dark green in some lights....). Essie calls it a indulgent jet black with amethyst fire; well...OK, the shimmer gives the jet black an aubergine look I guess and there might be green in de black base (that would explain the hint of green I keep seeing)....but I see no fire. Nothing burning here ;-)
This was two layers (the first a bit streaky and prone to bald spots). The shimmer is there, not in your face but still there... Wear time was not great, but with dark colours I tend to be more iffy: a bit of tip wear on dark colours looks way worse then on light colours!

Essie - Haute Tub

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!

Chanel - Métal Grenat (golden oldie)

This is, by far, the oldest polish I have in my possession! I was a baby when I bought it and in my mind it looks completely different....
The way I remember Métal Grenat is a fairly opaque burgundy red with golden shimmer, the way I perceive it now is a reddish brown jelly with golden shimmer. I fear that the red pigment has changed/disappeared over the years leaving me with this translucent dead leaves colour.....and perhaps the base has yellowed a bit as well!
I remember riding my bike and looking at the ground seeing all these mushy brown leaves laying on the road..."they look just like my nails, same colour >ieuw<"

Chanel - Métal Grenat

It is a nice colour and the shimmer is gorgeous but it is much nicer in my head :-)
Next time I will try some undies in burgundy and Seche Vite as topcoat. I used Poshé here and it pulls the polish like crazy to the middle. I guess that has something to do with the old formula of the Chanel (with all kinds of yummy smelling poisons!).

Essie - Pink Happy (Breast Cancer Awareness 2014)

Today I'm wearing Pink Happy from this years Breast Cancer Awareness collection. It is the darkest colour of the three. Essie describes it as follows: "laughter is the best medicine and the happy energy of this bright fuchsia berry is sure to put a smile on your face."
It is a fuchsia berry with lots of blue undertones and with my skin that just does not transfer as happy it looks more like granny on me. In the pictures it looks kind of OK, but in real life it pulled darker and less cheery.
This was two layers, but be slow and don't sweep to much with the brush or you will get bald spots!

Essie - Pink Happy

I decided to topcoat the lot: it was chipping fairly quickly and I thought that a layer of twinkles would save the day;......it did not........ >hmph<

Nicole by OPI - Best Pink Ever

The chips were gone, but the blue was even more enhanced and there was a silver sheen that didn't do the colour any favours. No Nicole's Best Pink Ever did not save the day for me today.
I swatched it over black on a nail wheel and that was gorgeous so there is still hope voor The Best Pink Ever! Now I need to figure out what to put over Pink Happy to make it truly happy for me....