day two hundred and thirty three, essie bermuda shorts

this is from the...2008 summer neon shorts collection by essie. i still search for short shorts to this day! i loved this collection! i still do actually, but i've never managed to find the other 3 colours. this is a fantastic neon purple. possibly my favourite neon purple of all time! like true neons it does dry with a bit of a satin-y matte finish but with some topcoat it's gorgeous and glossy and perfect. i LOVE it! we had the sun out and it just seemed appropriate (granted..it wasn't that WARM...but the sun is the sun and beggars can't be choosers!). i think this is my favourite neon collection ever...probably because it was my first so i have fond memories of it (2008 was when i REALLY got into lacquer...i started reading nail blogs at the end of 2007 but i didn't really start buying polish until 2008).

peep these!

day two hundred and twenty three, essie wicked

eep. two essies in two days!? what is this world coming to!? i usually try to space 'em out but i feel i've been neglecting essie so i put two different ones on back to back. this is another 'essie to end all essie' polishes, called wicked. i could not tell you about the history of vamps but suffice to say...every brand has their signature vamp and essie's is called wicked. it's actually one of the vamps i like better, it just seems more dark burgundy and deep and hugs the border of almost black but never quite crosses it. so finally, a vamp that isn't black! making it a-okay in my book. it's very shiny...i wonder why most vamps are jelly? i guess because they just look better than cremes? who can say! i will say my one thing that bugs me when i put on vamps (and i'm sure it's just my bad skills) is that the base of my nails seems to hold the lighter colour and not darken as much. but i only notice it if i stare at my fingers (and i was staring at these pictures to make sure they would look nice!)

day two hundred and twenty two, essie starry starry night

alright. this is where i get exposed for being a bad nail polish addict. starry starry night is basically...the essie to end all essie's in most people's opinion. it's a gorgeous dark blue jelly with silver glitter and it does look like a night sky. this polish really is lovely and will fetch around $70 on ebay (isn't that awful!? death to all scalpers!)...but i have to admit...i LIKE my starry starry night...but i don't go bonkers for it. i don't know why. i love it in swatch form on other people's nails...just on my own nails it never seems as awesome! maybe my expectations are too high? i honestly don't know! it is definitely a polish everyone should wear at least once!! i can't bring myself to ever part with this polish because i am hoping that someday i'll put it on and it will be the love i've been waiting for!


and yes...major MAJOR nail break for me :(. huge break on my left hand and then i had a polish chip on my right hand and a piece of my nail went with it! so i'm back to nubbins and i bought a new topcoat (from nfu-oh, it's supposed be amazing!) and i am anxiously awaiting it's arrival to see if it will bring my fingers back to shape!

onto the pictures!

day one hundred and fifty seven, essie sag harbor

don't forget to enter my giveaway where you can win TEN bottles of nail polish!!!


today we have the beautifully love sag harbor from the essie north forks collection. i never managed to pick up the rest of the collection (2 other polishes), this was the standout to me. it's a really pretty greyed light blue with a subtle shimmer. it's really pretty, it's almost a neutral. i mean it's not really a neutral since it's not nude or flesh but it's just really pretty and can go with anything!


there have been a rash of new bloggers stealing images from other blogs and using it as their own so i've started to watermark mine, hopefully it won't be too intrusive!

day one hundred and fifty, essie angora cardi

the illustrious Gina of Prim & Polished (a great blog!) has given me a wonderful gift:



The rules to accept this award are:

1. To accept the award, you must post it on your blog with the name of the person who has granted you the award, and a link to their blog.

2. Pass the award on to approximately 10-15 other blogs that you recently discovered, and think are great!

3. Contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

okay. here are some of my favourites. i consider myself to be a pretty sub-par photographer and these ladies put me to SHAME. they are all incredibly talented and if you aren't subscribed to their blogs..well hightail your bum over there and start reading!

Iceomatic (Liz)
Lacquerholic
My Simple Little Pleasures
Lacquerized (this is a new blog but the photography blows me away)
The Daily Nail (she is doing 365 days of nail art...i wish i had her talent)
Helen and Sheenie's Nice Things
The Hungry Asian
Laquer Laine
Polish or Perish
Dutch Nail Blog
Bright Lights Big Colour
Polish Freak
CucumPear
NailPolishd
Nails of the Day
Naive Nails
Magic Maid
Nani's Nails
Travels with Euridice


(that's it for now...apologies if anyone was forgotten...everyone who blogs is magnificent!)

another stunner from essie, surprise surprise! this is from the same collection as mink muffs and (a personal fav) chinchilly. it's a really pretty dusty mauve...it looks pretty pink in these photos but it has a definite purple leaning! i love it. it's a beautiful colour but it's still soft and lovely. i always like petting angora cardi's although i don't own any of my own!

day one hundred and thirty six, essie over the top

essie over the top is just one in a long line of gunmetal black/grey/silver polishes. it's a nice one although i found the pigmentation a bit thin, took 3 coats just to get this far and i wasn't really that pleased with the result. it's quite similar to creative nail design hyde in the dark and i felt the faint rainbow shimmer that all the gunmetals have was more obvious in that polish than in this one. it's kind of a disappointment, i usually LOVE this colours and this one...i was just okay with.

day one hundred and twenty nine, essie huckle buckle

essie huckle buckle is a really beautiful soft, iridescent lavendar with a strong blue flash. it was impossible to capture the real iridescence of this polish, the blue flash i hope is a little more obvious! it's just a really pretty colour. i want to call it soft again...but only in a really nice way. it reminds me of sunshine and flowers and it's just really pretty. i totally messed up my right hand and so i tried to disguise it with konad butterflies! and i was testing new plates on my other hand!

day one hundred and sixteen, essie it's genius

okay. today's awesome polish is 'it's genius' by essie. whihc i bought and forgot about because it fell down behind my bedside table (which is where the polish i'm most excited to swath tends to reside). it's an intriguing colour...it's purple and magenta at the same time but really elegant. it also is full of shimmer, it reminds me of the china glaze glass fleck shimmer. i really like it, it's professional and fun but not totally outrageous. i also am trying to teach myself to be less bad at konad. this design didn't come out too clearly because i used a diamond cosmetics polish for stamping and it wasn't quite thick enough. i have some more plates on their way and if the designs don't look too bad on my nails i'll show them!

day one hundred and eight, essie love, beverly hills xx

okay. let's continue with my 'reds are AWESOME' colour kick of the moment! there was no real sunshine today (although i overslept...i have a new phone and i use my phone as my alarm clock and the alarm does not cut it! i'm gonna have to invest in a proper alarm clock....as an aside...i know you all really care, haha..i might've missed the sunshine) so i took these photos in my bathroom where the amazing light is. so it looks a little pink but please trust that this is a bright red, a definitely girls night out...little black dress red. AMAZING. as you can see from the bottle, like sitka sable it has gold in it (although apparently this is 24k gold and...diamond cosmetics didn't disclose the type of gold) but in both polishes i found the gold practically non existent on the nail. maybe in super bright sunshine you can see it...it doesn't make me like the polish any less though.

this is definitely different than sitka sable, which is great since one could assume that because they are both reds with gold they are the same. sitka sable reminds me of a bright brick colour and this...this reminds me of brushed metal. it's almost a metallic red, like a metal patent (if that makes any sense!). this would be great as the colour of a classic mustang or a motorcycle. it's that great bright red that catches your eye and looks great with everything. i received this as a gift from some friends awhile ago and i hadn't worn it since i first received it...i'm really glad i have this blog to force me to revisit all my old polishes because there are some GEMS like this one that i totally forgot about!!!