Deborah Lippmann - Million Dollar Mermaid (matte)

Out of all the Mermaid collection, Million Dollar Mermaid was the one I was most excited for. And then I painted it on my nails. This was one of the least flattering colours I've tried to wear in a while, and I think that was due to it being such a pale orange shade with strong gold shimmer (I'm too pale to pull that off). I thought putting a matte coat over top would make it more flattering, and whilst it did to an extent, it was still a polish I won't be reaching for again. I've gotta say though, formula and application was perfect!
2 coats, 1 coat Essie matte about you top coat.

artificial light (colour accurate)

artificial light (slightly too pale)

artificial light

Deborah Lippman - Sweet Dreams

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile, my nails have been a little shorter than I like (oops) and I've been re-wearing polishes I've already blogged about. Sweet Dreams is a polish I've been wearing for the last 2 days, and it's a medium bright pink with tons of flakies in it. This polish was on my wishlist ever since it was released, and I'm so glad I finally bought it. I know flakies were very last year, but I still absolutely love them :)

2 coats, 1 coat Dior gel coat.

artificial daylight

artificial daylight

May Nail Polish Haul

After suffering through tonsillitis for the first time this last week, I am finally back with a monthly haul. I was supposed to have more photos this month, but long story short I lost them somehow :( Anyway, this month I binged in nail polish more then I should have, and by the end of the month I was feeling quite terrible/guilty over how many polishes I owned. A few days later I was back to admiring all the pretty colours, but don't you hate it when you feel guilty about something you love?

OPI L-R: Done Out In Deco / Do You Lilac It? / A Grape Fit!

February Nail Polish Haul (and mini reviews)

February was a crazy month for me. I broke my camera; I started a new full-time job; I got a "promotion" at my new job; My camera got fixed before I promptly broke it again; Two of my close friends moved away; I got sick; I got my camera back; and I finally stumbled into march feeling a little worse for wear. This is one reason why I haven't posted any NOTD's in February. The other reason is that my nails have been in the worst condition they've been in months, which has bummed me to no end.

So instead of trying to photograph my roughed up nails, I decided to post a monthly nail polish haul (which I'm  totally copying from Alanna because I eagerly await her hauls all month!) As a bit of a disclaimer, I know my photos aren't great. They're often wonky and the background isn't always a true white, but I'm trying and it's the best I can do for now on my time schedule. Also, I wanted to point out that I know this is quite a lot of polish to buy in 1 and a half months, but I told myself I was on a no buy in February, and this was the result >_< Maybe in march I should say I'm on an all-buy? ;)

Deborah Lippmann - Mermaid's Dream

Today's nail polish pick was Deborah Lippmann's Mermaid's Dream - a nail polish that I only picked up because of meghanrosette. After one coat it was a little gappy but still looked fine. After two coats it was opaque and the gold/yellow tones of the polish stood out a lot more against the green. I did 3 coats to see if it would make a difference, and the green got darker and much more dominant. I liked it at 2 coats, but I liked it better at 3 (just for reference).
Whilst a lot of people fan-girled about the colour of the polish, I just have to take a moment to fan-girl over the formula. This is the only Lippmann polish I've tried to date so I don't know how comparable it is over the entire range, but the formula on this nail polish was perfect. It went exactly where I wanted it to go. I never had too much on the brush, even if I did/didn't wipe it down. It was just amazing. Now, onto the colour. I've gotta be honest, this isn't my favourite colour in the world. Plus, I wasn't a fan of the finish. Very gritty, even after two generous coats of Revlon's colourstay (I did only 1 coat on my other hand and they felt exactly the same. I couldn't be bothered testing a third coat).

3 coats, 2 coats colorstay topcoat.

direct sunlight

direct sunlight

shade - a bit blurry sorry

shade

On another note, I went in to Myer today because I heard the new Chanel spring collection had just come in, and they had already sold out of Emprise! I skipped the other two because looked fairly dupable, but I've been stalking the counter for weeks waiting for Emprise to be mine! I was so mad/disappointed!! If you want Emprise, I suggest going in quick!

Nail Polish Collection: High End Misc. [January 2013]

Chanel is one of my favourite brands. Quartz is my favourite nail polish of all time (I know, huge right!) and both Paradoxal and Lilac Sky make my top 10. Coconutty by Leighton Denny also makes it into my top 10, and some of the Butters are getting close! I didn't realise until typing out this post but you can see my fingers in all of the bottle caps! 

NOTE: I have to mention that I took all my photos in a crudely made lightbox. Well, I don't think you could call it a lightbox...it's two planks of white painted wood and a lamp with a daylight globe! So whilst I tried to get these as colour accurate as I could, some colours may be just a tad off. I'll try to let you know when that happens, otherwise just google image the colour you were looking at. Also, I took these photos freehand so I'm sorry that some are a little crooked..I hope it doesn't bother you as much as it bothered me!