Zoya Megan

Tonight's polish is the last polish from Zoya's Feel Collection is Megan. Zoya describes as a " a full coverage, taupe gray cream. An ideal winter neutral nail polish color that covers fully in 2 coats." Traditionally, most of us think of taupe of a greyish brown, but according to Wikipedia, taupe encompasses a wide range of colors, including pink and lavender. Which... is a little weird, but whatever. I probably wouldn't have used taupe in the description, as to my eyes (and camera) Megan comes across as mostly a  purplish gray (but I'm no color expert). To my eyes, Megan is more purple than Kendal, and both as these are not as gray as Carey. I tried to photograph these three together to show you the gradient, but had difficulties capturing them accurately. I 'll do a round-up tomorrow and compare them.

Megan was similar in terms of formula to the other polishes from the Feel Collection. It was a little streaky in the first coat, but evened out and was opaque in just two coats. There were indeed a few angles where I could see the taupe aspects of this polish, but my camera only captured the purple. Again, I didn't wear a top coat in these pictures.

Artificial light with flash:

Artificial light:

Natural light - shade:

I have no idea why my natural light pictures lean so blue, but rest assured, Megan is purple not blue. This was kind of a weird polish (in terms of color) but I still like it. I'm not sure if it would be flattering on everyone, but I find it very pretty.

Zoya Carey

Tonight's polish is Zoya Carey, another polish from Zoya's Feel Collection. Zoya calls Carey a "periwinkle gray. An ideal cool neutral color that covers fully opaque in 2 coats." Personally, I don't get periwinkle from this polish at all, just gray. Especially when compared to the two other polishes in this collection that have purple leaning tendencies (you'll see them later!), Carey doesn't seem to lean purple at all... just a middle-of-the-road gray. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad thing-- I just feel the description is not quite accurate. Except now I look at my pictures and it does look there is some purple in there! Oh well. It definitely looks more gray in real life.

Carey was pretty good in terms of formula and I had no problems when I applied her. She was very well pigmented and almost went on perfectly in one coat. I used two coats here and no top coat for my pictures below.

Artificial light with flash:

"

Artificial light:

Natural light - shade:

I am not sure why this last picture looks so blue/purple. I feel like the flash/artificial light pictures are more color accurate. Carey is a great grey creme polish and I loved how easy it was to apply!

OPI Not Like the Movies

Not Like the Movies was released by OPI this this past January as part of collaboration with Katy Perry. There were five polishes in the collection, including Black Shatter, which kicked off the whole shatter/crackle trend this year. The other polishes were named after songs from Perry's album California Girls. Secret about me: I like Katy Perry's music. Don't hate me! But over the summer, the California Girls album was my jam. It's fun, fluffy music that I don't have to think too hard about and that I can sing along to. Sometimes, that's all that I want.

Not Like the Movies is a hard polish to describe. I think it's supposed to be a green/lavender duochrome polish with silver microglitter. In some lights it takes on a silvery lavender look and in others it looks more green and you can see the microglitter. This polish goes on very sheer, but three coats resulted in opaque coverage. It was definitely a funky polish in terms of color, but I like it a lot and got several compliments on it when I wore it.

Artificial light:

Artificial light:

Natural light - shade:

Apparently, though, there are two versions of Not Like the Movies. You can see this blog post at Love 4 Lacquer about the two different versions. To be honest, I think I own the second version, as I bought my polish some time after the original release , but I'm not quite sure. The first photo, with flash, looks duochrome-y. I don't know. This isn't the first time that this has happened with OPI, but it's still unfortunate. You'd think that the people who create these polishes would write down the recipes, but working in a lab, I know how easy it is to do things and not write them down and then try to piece things back together later! It's just a bummer when a really great polish is altered to something that isn't quite as awesome. Still, I do like this polish. I will have to try it under Black Shatter, since they were released together. 

China Glaze Pelican Gray

The next polish in China Glaze's Anchors Away collection is Pelican Gray. Grays are also big in the polish world right now, and though I don't really think of grey as a "spring" color, this one is fairly delicate. Pelican Gray is a light grey with a very subtle shimmer in it. I also think this polish leans a little blue. That, combined with the shimmer keeps it from being too heavy.

I ended up needing three coats on my left hand (the one pictured) but only two on my right hand. I used Orly's Bonder base coat and In a Snap top coat-- I'm not very happy with the top coat. It caused some bubbles, which I hate! I also apologize for the fact my nails got dinged up in between my photo sessions-- you can see it the natural light photos. Sorry!

Artificial light:

Artificial light with flash (you can really see the shimmer on the nails here):

Natural light - shade/weak sun (looks more blue here):

I think this is a pretty color and the shimmer gives it depth without being in your face. Like Below Deck, I could see Pelican Gray being appropriate for fall.

Sally Hansen - Gray by Gray

Like I said, I'm sucker for any sort of blue nail polish and I have a secret passion for grays too. This polish was recently review over at All Lacquered Up and when I saw it, I decided I had to have it. After scouring the city for it (Walgreens, Bartell Drugs), I finally found it at the Fred Meyer a block away from my house. D'oh!

Gray by Gray is from Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure line, and claims to be 5 steps in one: base coat, nail strengthener, nail treatment, color, and top coat. I decided that I would use my own base coat and top coat as well, to prevent staining and making sure my nails dried very quickly-- especially since I decided to do this manicure on a Friday morning before I had to go work. What was I thinking?!

The polish was excellent and went on very smoothly in two coats. The brush was a little hard to work with-- very wide and firm-- more like a paddle than a brush. But with my wide nail beds, it only took 2-3 strokes to cover my nails.

Now... pictures! I apologize for the crappy quality-- I think I've been lazy and so I haven't been getting very good pictures. Also, the weather here was sucking, so the light hasn't been great either. Lastly, as I mentioned above, I did this manicure on a Friday morning before running off to work. I was so careful and the manicure set wonderfully and looked great all day-- until I got home and somehow managed to scratch my middle finger. Argh!

Artificial light with flash:

Natural light (shade):

Really liked this color and I would be willing to buy more of these polishes.

Rescue Beauty Lounge - Spring 2011 Iconic/Ironic Collection

So, I became hooked on RBL polishes right before the Spring 2011 collection was released and so of course I snatched them all up before they could sell out. (Currently, none are sold out, so you're in luck if you want to snag one!)

RBL polishes are all 4-Free, so no harmful ingredients! The bottles are square glass and easy to handle. My only quibble are the brushes, which while flexible don't spread as much as I would like. But the polish applies like butter, so it's not really an issue. These polishes also dry pretty quickly, which is awesome.

Insouciant:
This polish is a grayish lilac color with a blue shimmer. This color changes a lot depending on the light you're in-- sometimes it's more gray, sometimes more purple, and sometimes the shimmer is really apparent. I used two coats here.

In this picture, under artificial light, you can see some of the shimmer in the bottle and on my nails: 

With a flash:

Shimmer! So pretty:

And one more:

Decorous: 
This is described by Baek as a "ladylike cocoa" and as if "a chai latte had a baby with a malted milkshake." There's a hint of shimmer to make the color dynamic and changeable in different lighting situations and keep it from being too boring. At first, the color isn't that attractive right out of the bottle, but with two coats and a nice shiny topcoat-- it's gorgeous. 

Under artificial light. You can see the shimmer in the bottle, it's a little more difficult to see on the nail. Under this light the color isn't not quite as attractive as one would hope:

Natural light; the color is much more attractive here:

With a flash:

Iconoclast: 
This is a rich ebony color with multi-colored glitter to give it some pop and make it a little different from a lot of other black polishes out there. This is two coats. 

With a flash; you can see some of the shimmer on my ring finger:

Artificial light; you can really see the rainbow of glitter in the bottle:

Natural light:

Recherché:
This is a smoky plum/brown color and the only creme of the collection. My only disappointment is that the color is a lot more reddish plum in the bottle and it's a lot darker on the nail. However, it's still really gorgeous and doesn't look too black. This is two coats. I also had a very difficult time capturing this baby with my camera-- it's very shiny and also photographed a lot dark than it actually looked in most cases.

With a flash; the color comes across as a little gray here: 

Artificial light:

Natural light:

Natural light w/flash:

And that's the Spring 2011 collection! Gorgeous! I am wearing Recherché right now for Palm Sunday. I plan on wearing Iconoclast for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. I was planning on wearing Decorous on Easter with my fun, bright colorful dress and nude heels.