Street Wear Bare It

Today I've got one of the polishes from my Street Wear haul a few months back.

Here's Bare It, a light gold duochrome polish with gold glitter. It shines both gold and pink, a very pretty combination. It reminds me a bit of tarnished metal and, in a way, opal (only the pink range of opal, not the blue and green). I got quite a few compliments on it, so it must be pretty!

This is two coats of Bare It layered over a couple coats of China Glaze's Liquid Leather. I knew it was going to be thin, so I figured black would help it stand out a bit more (though I'm sure it would look subtle and chic on its own). All of my Street Wears apply fussy, and this was no exception, though it wasn't impossible. It dried somewhat slowly, and of course I dinged my index finger about thirty seconds after taking these photos.

Despite the application hurdles one must tackle to apply older polishes like Street Wears, these are totally worth it - not only for the nostalgia, but also for the unique colors and finishes. I wish Revlon still made this funky range of lacquers, as I think they are even more unique than a lot of polishes currently being made.

OPI DS Passion

I'm gettin' festive up in here. Here's a very pink, very cutesy, very sparkly Valentine's Day manicure for ya, featuring DS Passion by OPI.

DS Passion is a soft holographic pink. It looks like a scattered holo effect, but it is actually linear (not as intense as say, Gosh's Holographic though). The light captures the holographic bits pretty well actually, so you don't have to be under bright lights to notice it. While soft pink isn't necessarily "my thing," it is very pretty. And it applied very easily. Too quick coats, and it was good to go. It is on the thinner side, but still very easy to manage. Overall, a pretty color I am glad to have in my collection. I probably won't reach for it as often as my vamps, but there's no saving me when it comes to darker polishes.

I hope you are all having a great Valentine's Day, whether you have a partner or not. I'm spending the day hanging out with myself, which is actually quite nice.

Oh, and I wanted to mention that if you are near a Target, you may want to head in there soon, as it seems like they are making room for Spring collections, and clearance-ing a ton of stuff out.

Here's what I purchased:
- A makeup brush. Seems to be of pretty decent quality, but I'm not picky.
- Purple Rain by Rimmel. A deep, vampy plum. Not exactly unique in my collection, but I couldn't pass it up due to its name. What kind of Minnesotan would I be if I ignored a polish that's named after a Prince song/movie? Plus it was the last one on the shelf!
- Canal Street by NYC. Scarlet red with gold microshimmer.
- West Village by NYC. Deep, shimmery purple.
- Smoky Canvas by Revlon. A grey that looks like it leans a little brown. Very pretty. My mom really liked it, too, and for a moment I thought she was going to try and pick one up for herself (I can't remember the last time my mom wore nail polish).
- Siren by Revlon. Bright orange. I was enamored by the vintage-y design of their name on the cap (which you can't really see in the photo, but trust me it's cute).
- Some gel liner by Sonia Kashuk. Applies smoothly.
- Brow kit. Not on clearance but I needed more brow wax, and apparently it's next to impossible to purchase brow wax on its own.

I spend less than $20 on all of this! I love Target!

OPI Here Today... Aragon Tomorrow

After my bright, glittery manicure, I needed to get back to something gloomy. So tonight I tried out OPI's Here Today... Aragon Tomorrow, originally part of the 2009 Espana collection.

Here Today... Aragon Tomorrow is a dark dark dark green, with a fun surprise: shimmer! It reminds me of the forest late at night and algae. It's definitely a color that's right up my alley, and I wish I had used it sooner (I've owned it about a year).

Application-wise, it applied wonderfully. The first coat was pretty transparent, and it needed three to even out all the bald spots. But the coats applied incredibly smoothly, and was really easy to control.

Overall, Here Today... Aragon Tomorrow is a complete winner. Fantastic color and fantastic application.

Revlon Sunshine Sparkle & NYX Carnival

A couple of exciting blog-related things have happened recently. First, my blog is one year old! I had my official one year blogging anniversary on the second. Second, I have officially hit 100 followers! Even though I don't have as much time as I'd like for blogging, I really do enjoy it. It's so awesome that 100 of you want to read my little blog, especially considering how saturated the nail blogging world is.

As a little celebration, I decided to create a fun manicure with Revlon's Sunshine Sparkle and Carnival by NYX on top.

I started off with Sunshine Sparkle for my base, a polish I found on clearance at Target a month or so ago. It's a very pretty pale yellow with shimmer. As you can imagine, applying this pastel yellow was not exactly a walk in the park. It needed three coats, and even then didn't look perfect (though it looks pretty good in the photos). It did seem to dry pretty fast, though.

Next I added two coats of Carnival. Yet another polish following the Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday trend. I am all about cheap dupes. And every polish lover should have at least one ridiculous glitter. This was pretty thick, but the glitter applied evenly, which was a nice surprise.

This is definitely a manicure that catches the eye, but with how many coats there are, I'm sure will only last a day. Worth it!

Sephora by OPI Metro Chic

So, remember like three years ago when the entire nail blogging world (really, the fashion blogging world in general) was obsessed with Metro Chic? Even though I wasn't a blogger then, I fell victim to its charm, too. And now, years after the trend, I am posting it on my blog!

Metro Chic is pretty, but damn do you have to work for the pretty. It applied really thin and splotchy. It took three painful coats to get it to look nice, but it could be worse. I would say it's worth the pain for this purple-leaning grey.

I haven't paid much attention to OPI's Sephora line, but this polish reminds me how much I really do like it. I think they do come out with a lot of really pretty colors. Now if only they weren't so damn expensive.

Gosh Ocean

Here's a polish sent to me in a swap with Nailtopia.

Gosh's Ocean just glows! It's so pretty, and quite attention-grabbing. It's got this whole foil metallic thing going on, which I dig. It applied super well. I used two coats, which went on evenly and smoothly, and dried fast. Overall, Ocean is a success. Super pretty color and super easy application process.

Victoria by Nails Inc

Today I have for you a polish that combines my two favorite polish components: it's a vampy red, and a jelly! I present Victoria by Nails Inc, sent by Nicole.

Look at Victoria in all her vampy, juicy glory! Ah, this is like bottled perfection. I used three coats for this, and they all applied smoothly. Nails Inc consistently impresses me.