Layering Luxuriously

Personally I love those soft pink-infused blues.

Lapis of Luxury is in the category of Cashmere Cardigan by Orly and Modern Grace by Revlon, just  bit more lighter of a shade.

If there is something I can rely on, it's Essie holding its own with some of my favorite polishes.

Here is Lapis of Luxury:

A soft, delightful blue. Three coats, easy to use. I didn't do cleanup and probably should have.

Next, I pulled out a pair of flakie polishes:

Hidden Treasure by Sally Hansen and Petites Dare.
Many dupes of Hidden Treasure, have no fear. Plus, I found some recently on eBay through a UK seller, No apologies for backup, here.

Petites is a soft blue jelly base, perhaps pushing the edge of royal blue with a blue flake scattered in the mix. It's a smaller flake, too.

Here is the result!

I admit that the way Hidden Treasure suddenly turns pink just captivates me! Beneath you can see the blue flake subtly gleaming.

Two coats each.

It feels like an opal!

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The One That Started It All

Yup.
Here it is.
The polish that opened the floodgates of polish love for me.

To me the fact that periwinkle blue polish was so easily out there and all these other great colors were out there, too, made me do a double take.

I also have to say that polish colors really are a great way to wear cool colors that aren't necessarily perfect for clothing or makeup. Thought right now I'm wearing a leaf green eyeshadow, I think the ultimate pleasure for me is enjoying the manicure, the color, and the finish.

Waxing on aside, here it is, Sahara Sapphire by OPI.

It is a pearl finish with a delicate periwinkle blue that I can't help but adore.
This is three coats, but two would do.
I think there are some brushstrokes, so straightness is necessary when applying. It will give away wobbles. It reminds me of a WnW Rain Check (I think also reissued under another name, too) I really liked, but got bubbly at every turn. This is a bit more gray, but still as nice.

Hard to argue with the formula, worked like a charm.

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Lullaby of Broadway

I have got to say that I love layering polishes.

Even better are polishes designed to layer!

Movin' Out by OPI from the Holiday on Broadway Collection is nothing if not a layering polish.

I need to swatch the whole collection, but finally decided to try this one out. It dries with a satin finish, but these shots are more for the shimmer than the gloss.

A shimmery warm plum first shows up.

Then you can see the amber and red. And a bit of green.

Finally the beetle green that I love so much!

I will get together a swatch-fest from this collection in the fall.
Meanwhile, this green flash is a nice treat!

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Gardens of Gray

Until I saw the documentary, Gray Gardens, by the Maysles brothers, David and Albert, I had no idea that Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis had such interesting cousins.

Here is a link to the website for the documentary.

Edie Ewing Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edie Bouvier Beale as portrayed in the documentary named after their home in East Hampton, NY, are an arresting portrayal of a pair of women. It's not just an era, or a class, or even a bit of shocking decay, but a struggle between mother and daughter.

I suggest viewing this little movie, though it is somewhat dated, on film stock and done in a pretty traditional manner, the insights into the lives of "Big" Edie and "Little Edie" strike a chord that truly rises above their mannered speech and affectations.

Though Drew Barrymore did an astounding job in her movie version of this snippet of their lives, I feel that there is no way to understand these women without listening to their own words.

Not that this is entirely a movie review, no. In fact the estate has been witty enough to market the name and come out with a jewelry line to boot.

Sally Hansen has also come out with a polish.

What? Yes.

The label has a little trademark symbol on it, too.

No photo of the cap, but instead a soft, muted gray/purple.
I feel like it's the shade of sadly worn flowers on a wallpaper that is from the 1940's.

Three coats, the usual "Sally, why dry so slow!?!" formula, but all in all it wore so nicely.

I did no comparisons, just popped it on and called it good. I feel the bubbles are from my topcoat, need to thin it.

The Edies always leave me a little sad, but even though their legacy is that as eccentric cat ladies unable to find purchase in a modern world where women relied on family money or men to support them.

The demur/melancholy purple of this polish says as much about the house, their lives, as it does for the lonely lives these women lived.

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It's A Party, Purple!

Colorama, by Maybelline, are tiny little bottles, but they pack a punch.

In some ways I wish many of my lesser loved colors were smaller bottles. At times I feel guilty that I can't really use them all up, especially those colors that leave me less than excited!

Purple Party, here,  is four coats. It's sheer, and has been hovering in amongst the top coats/layering polishes, but really it's got that density that is too much to just be a layer, so I put on enough to build decent coverage and it works very nicely.

A pearly soft shimmer with a bit of a glass fleck poking around hither and yon. It's a pinky lilac and might work over a cream of the same color, for now, though, I like it alone.

Soft blue undertone and a faint hint of iridescence finishes off this sweet little number.

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Feeling Cosmic

Maybelline Cosmic Blue....faaaabulous!

A creme and an old gold cap.

Love it!

Three coats, easy to use and no fuss!

Well, except my application!

Sun finally came out, and I grabbed a shot.

If you love blue, you probably might grab this up if you find it affordably!

Sun drenched turquoise.

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Berry Sophisticated

Old L'Oreal that pops up at Dollar Tree is worth a look, in my humble opinion.

The formula is really pretty nice, which is always a plus in my book.

L'Oreal Sophisticate

Three coats, really nice berry red. Intense, yet not dark. 

I then topped it with a Princessa I've blogged about in the past.

A no name polish that Princessa put into a set of 5. This is a "water" type polish with a blue shimmer so it's great for layering. 

An oddball, one off, randomly acquired polish, but I kind of love that it's full of blue shimmer. 

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Feeling All Grace Kelly

I will say that I love these kind of airy, delightful, and deliciously delicate shades.

I have a set of pearls that were a grand-aunt's and they are short - 16 inches - and big - 10mm - and so mid-century, I feel like a movie goddess.

Here is Rimmel Crushed Pearl

Soft blush pink with a very nice shimmer running through it.

Three coats, pretty easy to apply, not too bad of a formula, a little bit of brushstroke issues, but they seem to settle down as it dries.

I picked this up at the drug store, but not sure if it's still amongst Rimmel's offerings, I've browsed their site and don't see the square bottles, yet I have seen the square bottle display in the store.

Flattering and feminine, Office OK, and still has that sweet shimmer.

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Soft Spring Green

Sally Hansen
Hansa
Hansiatic League

I don't know why I typed that, but I just had to, it came out.

Ok, so as you may know Sally Hansen has some (had?) nail polish pens out, but somehow a bunch ended up at my Dollah Tree.
Why, I don't know, because these appear to be on Sally's website, so perhaps it was just a job lot from some retail place that needed shelf space.
Who knows. I don't, I'm just Damon Runyan-ing the pre-history of three polish pens.

I used the same technique I discussed in my three part series on how to decant Nic Sticks, here, to get the polish out.
Like Nic Sticks, the SH pens have about 4 mL of polish.

I've got to say, though, that even though it's a thin formula, it covers very well.

Two coats did the trick.

I have a ridge filler underneath, Essie's, so I don't know why there are bubbles. Perhaps I applied coats too quickly.

I like it, though, it's a soft spring color.

I have a handful of old SH chromes, but apparently not a green, this is why I grabbed only green, versus a few of the other colors on hand.

More posts coming!
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Got My Bases Covered

I don't wear super pale polishes very often, but they are a staple for either frankening or just wearing as lingerie under sheers.

I'm going through a number of white/ivory/nude shades. Hopefully I can get through some of these and work on more stuff.

I admit I bought a lot of dupes, I don't mind, but it takes up a lot of room when I do this. Naughty!

Ok, onward!

Cover Girl White Night
Wow. Two coats, and a perfect base. CG is no longer available. I hate - with a passion - WnW French White Creme, so I got rid of it, but this is actually a white I'd love to use for stamping things onto, base layering etc.  It's not a bright white, but I love it.

Maybelline French Tip
Streaking and not the greatest coverage. Blah.

Diamond Cosmetics White Shimmer.
This is a soft, translucent polish with a shimmer. Sadly it has that same smell as Kleancolor - aka Stank - and it is off the love list for that reason alone. I never have this problem with other DC polishes. It's odd.

Typo! Gah!

Borghese Blanco.
Not bad, not great. Three coats? Bright. Borghese asks $8 retail for polishes that usually have slacker pigmentation. This is no surprise. Might be a workhorse under neons, however!

OPI Time-less is More
Perhaps a holy grail white jelly? Formula killed with ease of use. No complaints here.
I want to say, too that it is exceptionally flattering and not so stark. Glossy.  Love.

Sally Hansen French Tip
More of a blush than a white, and blends on over to the ivories I will do next. Not bad, but not thrilling. Needed more coats for coverage, three, and even then did seem to be bumpy and chunky.
Old Sally bottle, I have such a weakness for these.

Borghese Principessa Ivory
A soft beige, three coats, fair coverage. Nice neutral falling in the "Office OK" category. You can see my orange stained nail bed near the top of this, though. So, it's semi-sheer, but not in the jelly realm.

Borghese Cannoli Cream
I think this is even more sheer and somewhat more pink. That orange sticking through is my stained nails from a really red polish.
Two things, really, I need to find out how to un-stain my nails and I can't really call a sheer a base. Might make a franken base, I wouldn't mind a sheer something else, but this is no dice for me.

Color Club Coastal Creme
Soft, creamy beige that covers in three coats. I didn't use a ridge filler, so that's going to give me up on that front, but coverage is great. It's similar to Principessa Ivory, but with a bit more brightness and coverage.

More bases coming soon!

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!