Revlon Tropical Temptation vs. Depend 244

Revlon - Tropical Temptation (index & ring) vs. Depend - 244 (middle & pinky), 2 + 3 coats

Here's a tiny comparison of coral polishes that I did a year ago... a day (=year) late and a dollar short, that's me. ._. I always get this super strong urge to wear corals in the summer, and at least one of these polishes is still widely available. In the bottle, these two are exactly the same. The differences are that the Revlon is a creme whereas the Depend is more jelly-like and dries slightly darker than it appears in the bottle. Tropical Tempation is good to go with two coats, but 244 needs three to eliminate VNL.

OPI Guy Meets Gal-veston & OPI I Lily Love You

OPI Guy Meets Gal-veston & OPI I Lily Love You, 3 + 1 + 1 coats

Essence Cherry Juice & vampy half-moon mani

Essence - Cherry Juice, 2 coats

A red polish on me, a sight most uncommon! Cherry Juice is part of Essence's Jelly Baby line which consists fully of - can you guess it? - yes, jellies. This one went on effortlessly and was almost opaque after two coats. I wore two different basecoats underneath Cherry Juice, but after removal I noticed that a little bit of orange staining had still occurred.

Essence - Cherry Juice & YSSY - Dark plum #35, 2 + 1 coats

I had planned to do a half-moon mani before I even put on Cherry Juice. I used hole reinforcers to get a nice crisp line. The YSSY may look like an ordinary black polish, but under strong sunlight you can see that it is a very dark plum with matching shimmer. The red glitter gradation was done with La Femme Jupiter, and I also added some red rhinestones where the two contrasting polishes meet.

BYS Phantom

BYS - Phantom, 3 coats

Phantom was my first BYS polish, and I must say that I'm mostly unimpressed by it. I didn't like the stiff brush or the very flimsy handle which just screamed "I'm cheapo!" at me. Also, the formula was sort of gluey (or as I prefer to call it, very much like kiisseli). The combo of silver glitter and blue shimmer in a purple jelly base sounds delectable, but in addition to the iffy formula and the cheap packaging there's just one setback: the smell. It was the strangest I've ever come across - Phantom has a VERY strong mildew-like scent that overpowers any usual chemical fumes that the polish has. Now I know I'm a freak because I adore the smell of old musty cellars, and I found myself sniffing my fingers frequently while I was painting them... it really smells like mildew. :") Perhaps Revlon should launch a new line of scented polishes for people like me - in it, they could include gems such as the ever so popular Sunbaked Roadkill (duochrome orange/red/brown), an old time favourite Suave Sewage (chunky green glitter), and tailored especially for me - Mil-Dewdrops (teal & green glass flecks in sheer black base). Anyhoo, the scent was there even the following day which was when I decided to remove the mani.

Sally Hansen Purple Pizzazz

Sally Hansen - Purple Pizzazz, 3 coats

This is Purple Pizzazz, a purple jelly with blue and pink glass flecks, very similar to Sinful Colors Daddy's Girl. I think that they're discontinuing this particular colour so you better act quick if you wish to add it to your collection. I dig the Xtreme Wear brushes, but they're slightly too large for the "mouth" of the bottle and you end up getting polish all over the neck (the same thing happens with their Insta-Dri bottles but they're 10 times worse).

OPI Coney Island Cotton Candy vs. Sinful Colors Subdued

OPI - Coney Island Cotton Candy (index, ring) & Sinful Colors - Subdued (middle, pinkie), 4 + 2 coats

Perhaps a slightly dull comparison of nudes, but hey. Coney Island Cotton Candy and Subdued look relatively similar in the bottle, but on the nail CICC is much more yellow and Subdued definitely appears to be very pink. The Sinful Color is a nice self-leveling creme but it's way too pink to be a perfect match for my skintone. I guess the OPI can be classified as a jelly and as such takes tons of coats to be even remotedly opaque - I did four coats and you can still see my VNL. I think there are two versions of this one floating around - mine is from the newer batch.

L.A. Colors Exotic Pink

L.A. Colors - Exotic Pink, 3 coats

Exotic Pink is a lovely, squishy, vivid deep pink jelly bordering on magenta (or even neon pink if you're not a neon purist). I doubt that my camera was able to capture the true brightness of this lacquer. :/ This time, I wrapped my tips while putting the polish on and thus avoided the icky pooling near the tip of the free edge. It also took me about three hours to do this mani from start to finish since I waited about 20 minutes between each coat as I was desperately trying to avoid bubbling. BTW, what's up with all the LA/L.A. polishes, are they manufactured by the same company? It's just that if they are then why the discrepancy, isn't LA = Louisiana and L.A. = Los Angeles? And what does LASplash stand for then? %)

Nivea Berry Gloss & Nfu-Oh 51

 Nivea - Berry Gloss, 2 coats

In the bottle, Berry Gloss looks like a heavily red tinted purple, but on the nail it translates as a mixture between reddish purple and burgundy (see second image). It's a super glossy and squishy jelly and would have required at least three coats to eliminate VNL, but since I was going to layer 51 over it I only did two. The polish sort of puddled near the very tips which is apparent in the pics. The brush was splayed and the bristles hard thus I had to leave a larger gap than usual to avoid cuticle flooding.

Nivea - Berry Gloss & Nfu-Oh - 51, 2 + 2 coats

Fat nails! Chunkytown! :p Nfu-Oh 51 is an incredibly beautiful lacquer but I bet it looks a hundred times better in the summer when there's an abundance of sunlight.

Purple spam! Pt. 3

OPI - Who Are You Wearing, 2 coats

OPI - Who Are You Wearing & NYC - Love Letters, 2 + 1 coats

 Sinful Colors - Daddy's Girl, 3 coats

 Sinful Colors - Daddy's Girl & Sally Hansen - DVD, 3 + 2 coats

Color Club - Electronica, 2 coats

Red & coral spam!

China Glaze - Stroll, 3 coats

 Orly - OMG, 3 coats

Orly - OMG & Sally Hansen Nail Prisms - Golden Tourmaline, 3 + 2 coats

Sally Hansen - Sumptuous Petal, 4 coats

Rimmel - Flirty Coral, 2 coats

Maybelline Colorama - Peach Daiquiri, 2 coats

Maybelline Colorama - Peach Daiquiri & Maybelline Colorama - Ruby Rays, 2 + 2 coats

Pink spam!

 Rimmel - Electric, 2 coats

 Franken - Squishy Fruit, 4 coats

Franken - Squishy Fruit & Pure Ice - Rio, 4 + 1 coats

Nubar - Amazon Coral, 2 coats

 Color Club - Yachty Yachty Yadda, 2 coats

Franken - Pink Lick & Guppy - 56, 2 + 1 coats

 Orly - Polo Princess, 2 coats

Franken - Rosy, 2 coats