Lavender Mint

Hey there! Today I have a mani that's been sitting in my "Nails" folder for way too long. It's actually from late October last year, and while I had almost started to think I should just not post it, I'm working on the Zoya summer collection right now, and since it's going to take me a little while to get through, I thought it'd be good to post something in the meantime. However, just because it's been sitting on my hard drive for several months doesn't mean I didn't like it - I honestly don't know why I haven't posted it before now. I used Icing Mint 2 Be for the mint green and Zoya Malia with Sephora by OPI Only Gold for Me for the accent nails.

outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

I realize that Malia isn't a lavender, but when I was thinking of what to name this post, I thought of Paul Mitchell's line of lavender mint hair products (they smell wonderful, of course - what of theirs doesn't?) and decided it was about as interesting a title as I was going to come up with. I need to start doing accent nails more often again, I think...I haven't done any lately, and it's one of the easiest ways I can think of to give your nails a little more pizzazz.

Now I have a question for you all - would you rather have me split Zoya Beach and Surf into two parts, or four? I kind of like doing it in four because I feel like I can devote a little more description to each polish and because I can post more often that way, but I've done Zoya collections in two posts before, and I can certainly do it again if that's what you prefer. Please leave a comment telling me if you'd rather have two posts, four, or if you don't care either way. Thanks!

Icing Irish Gold

I picked up Irish Gold when I was on a college shopping trip with my besties about a week ago - I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself because I only got two polishes. :) Irish Gold is a fantastic green glitter with medium green, light grass green, and gold glitter. I'm very impressed with the opacity of this one. It's better in that regard than several of the OPI glitters I own, and dries to a fairly smooth finish, though you'll still want top coat to make it really shine. The picture to the left is a bottle shot, and though it's rather blurry, I still wanted to include it because it shows the colors of the glitter better than the pictures I took of my nails.

 outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

These pictures look super awkward because they're of my right hand, which means I had to take them with my left hand. This is because I made the mistake of waiting until after my first day of intensive pre-college cleaning (and this was the fourth day I wore Irish Gold) to take pictures. Not such a great idea, as the polish on my left index finger had peeled halfway off by the time I took the pictures.

The only other green glitter in a clear base that I own is OPI Glow Up Already, and I think I prefer this. For one thing, I like the combination of green and gold much better than green and silver, especially when it comes to medium or light greens. I also really like that Irish Gold has different shades of green glitter, giving it a sort of textured look.

I felt like I should post this before I move tomorrow, but I really should keep packing. Bye!

P.S. I've only been wearing base coat since I took Irish Gold off last Thursday...eep! I just haven't had time to paint my nails, but hopefully this will change after my first few chaotic days at college. I did finally pack the polishes I'm going to take with me, and I came up with a total of 95. A nice round number, don't you think? ;)

Icing Electric Feeling

Icing Electric Feeling is a rather interesting polish, and I'm not quite sure how to describe it. It's a jelly, but it's opaque in three coats. It's like a neon in that it dries to a satin finish, but it's not as eye-searing as a neon. It's streaky, but it builds and evens out quickly. I guess the best thing to do is just show the pictures! This is three coats without top coat, and then with a coat of Rush.

 indoors, artificial light

indoors, artificial light

With top coat, Electric Feeling is like a lighter cousin to Revlon Royal, which is a plus in my opinion. Since it's not completely flat without top coat (I'm not a huge fan of super-matte cremes), I can see myself wearing this with or without top coat. I'm pretty sure it'll stain if you don't wear base coat, but I did wear base coat and had no staining. And you should always wear a base coat, anyway. :) Until next time!

Icing True Beauty

Happy Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday! I'm giving up candy and meat for Lent, so I'm definitely looking forward to my one last sweet and meaty hurrah for the next forty days...though actually, at least in Catholicism, you don't have to fast on Sunday because it's a day of rest. Anyway, I thought it would be appropriate to show you something glittery today, though I didn't do an actual Mardi Gras-themed mani. Instead, I have Icing True Beauty for you, a rich army green color. I used two coats and Rush top coat, and in the second picture I've added a coat of Milani Gems, which I was fortunate enough to find at a CVS on a trip out of town a while back.

indoors, artificial light

indoors, artificial light

A bit of a letdown after GOSH Holographic, I know, but wouldn't anything be? I do really like this color, though, and I think it's a great base for Gems. Happy feasting if you plan on feasting, and if you don't, happy Tuesday! It's almost to the point where I can get away with wearing St. Patrick's Day manicures out in public without feeling like an idiot, so you may see some of those soon, though I make no promises.

Icing Mint 2 Be

Today I have Icing Mint 2 Be, a mint green creme. Unlike Essie Mint Candy Apple and some other minty colors I own, Icing Mint 2 Be is really green, with less of a blue tint than some of the others. In the picture, I used two coats of Mint 2 Be and no top coat.

indoors, artificial light

Mint 2 Be applied nicely - I didn't feel like I had to fight with it like I do with a lot of pastels. I think like this would be a really good base for Cover Girl Krypton Ice, which I found after I took this picture, so I may have to try that at some point. While this color isn't particularly unique or special, I really like it and I feel like it fills a hole in my collection. If you don't have a dupe, I'd definitely recommend it.

Note: I'm writing up a few scheduled blog posts before I leave so that I can concentrate on my interview weekend and still put blog posts up. I hope it works - I've tried to schedule posts before and it didn't work right.

Icing Glamourous

Icing Glamourous is one of the four polishes I picked up at Icing a couple weeks ago when they were having a buy one polish, get one 50% off deal. It was glittery, and holographic, and it called my name. The only shame is that I couldn't get all the holographic goodness to show up in the pictures - in real life, it's almost a linear holo, even though it's technically a scattered holo glitter. 

outdoors, shade

outdoors, sunlight

indoors, artificial light

I didn't really expect it to be opaque, but fortunately I was (mostly) wrong about that. I used four coats, and while it's not entirely opaque, most of the time it's so darn glittery that I can't tell it's not opaque even when I'm holding my fingers up to my face. Clearly, it doesn't look that good in the pictures. For an indication of how good it looks in real life, imagine the glitteriness of the first picture times five, plus the holo of the last picture times six or seven...and that should about get you there. I'm sorry I couldn't accurately portray this one. I am so not doing it justice. Also, sorry for my pitiful little nubs. I'm trying to grow them out. Slowly. Very, very slowly. :) Happy hump day!