So. I have a bit of an addiction.
Just a bit.
Reds
Reds
OPI: Every Month Is Oktoberfest- Shiny vampy red that looks plum purple in some lights.
Sephora by Opi: Brunette on the Internet- A very old bottle, probably discontinued. A dark brick red, watery and uneven formula.
Barielle: Elle's Spell- A warm red jelly with multi-chrome flakies. Looks best over a red base color.
Essie: A-List- A perfect holiday red creme. I am not really a red nails person, but I love this. Formula is flawless and fully opaque/even in two coats.
KB Shimmers- Candy Cane Crush- A glitter polish jam packed with red and white hex glitter. Great for the holidays, but this stuff DOES NOT COME OFF.
Sephora by Opi: Have You Met Rose, Mary?- Shiny pinky-red. Prettier than I expected.
Pinks
Pinks
Pinks
Butter London: Macbeth- A weird name for a non-bloody Spring color. This is much more coral in person than in the picture. It's quite lovely, though needs three coats for perfect opacity/evenness.
Essie: Plumberry- A plummy pink creme that dries a shade or two darker than the bottle.
Julie Nail Color: No name polish- Magenta micro-shimmer. Nice fore a $2 cheapo bottle.
Petites: Craze- These cheap bottles go for about $3 at Rite Aid. This is pretty close to the Julie polish, but has a mix of micro-glitters and larger particles.
China Glaze: Strawberry Fields- A bright, summery pink with golden micro-shimmers. Not a color I grab often, but it is very lovely to look at. Formula is on the thin side.
Zoya: Reece: Suuuuch a lovely color. It's a vibrant spring pink with a rich, noticeable green overlay. Not quite a duochrome because both colors are visible at the same time, but has a very duochrome-y effect.
Finger Paints: Hue Left A Message?- Desaturated pink glitter. Basically a dupe of Butter London's Rosie Lee at 1/4 the cost.
Cocoa Allure: Cleopinktra- Gold and pink glitters. Chunky.
Purples
Purples
Purples
Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle: A Perfect Plum- A reddish plum creme. Really nice formula. I also like the wide brush.
Orly: Love Each Other- I bought this because in the bottle, it is stunningly pretty. Gorgeous purple shimmery loveliness. On the nail? You can BARELY SEE IT. Three coats, and you can STILL barely see it, even over creme bases. Probably the worst polish purchase to date.
L'Oreal: The Mystic's Fortune- A dark blue purple. Can be either navy or blue purple, depending on the light. Thin formula, but evens after two coats. I only paid $1.50 for it, so I got my money's worth.
China Glaze: Coconut Kiss- First of all, what a weird name for a purple polish. Second of all, this is a terrible formula. Watery and uneven, then gloopy. IDK if I got a crap bottle or what, but as soon as I buy a similar color, this is going in the trash.
HITS: Can Can- A plum purple jelly with vibrant teal /green flakies. Um, I was pretty underwhelmed with this on the nail. It's oddly dull, even with a topcoat. I've found other uses for it, though, so I'm keeping it.
Cocoa Allure: Bootiful- A Halloween chunky glitter. Purple, orange, and black.
Zoya: Faye- A very shiny, metallic gilded purple. Sheer until the third coat, but absolutely every bit worth it. A lighter, springier version of Zoya's Daul or OPI's It's My Year.
Zoya: Lotus- A desaturated lilac with lovely but subtle pink shimmer. I thought Tru was going to be the one I went for from this collection, but I totally fell for Lotus when I saw them side by side.
Golds and Bronzes
Golds and Bronzes
Essie Luxeffects: As Gold As It Gets- a gold flakey topcoat. Nice even distribution.
Nicole by OPI: A Gold Winter's Night- I liked this one way more than I expected to! Gold and pink glitter with teal/blue holo bar glitter. It's like nail tinsel.
Sinful Colors: All About You- Warm gold glitter with subtle red glitter. I wanted to like this, but the formula was dreadful. Way too gloopy, way too thick.
Finger Paints: A Figure of Art- A warm gold metallic. Stains like a mofo.
Nubar: Gold Leaf- This is supposed to be a duochrome, but it's not so much. It "switches" between bronzey gold and slightly lighter bronzey gold. I mean, definitely pretty, but I was a bit disappointed.
Stripe Rite: Un-named Polish- A nice even neutral gold striping polish for nail art.
Oranges, Rusts, and Coppers
Oranges, Rusts, and Coppers
Oranges, Rusts, and Coppers
Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear: Pumpkin Spice- What an odd polish. It was part of a Halloween collection, and was expecting the copper glitter to be either in a clear or black-tinted base. Instead, the base is kind of sickly grey-green? IDK, it looks fine over a black creme base, but the ugly green DOES really limit how often I wear it.
China Glaze: Brownstone- A rusty brownish red creme. Really nice for fall, opaque in two coats.
Finger Paints: Copper Elements- A copper metallic. Nothing special, but it does the trick.
Butter London: Shag- Metallic, micro-shimmery brown-copper. Pretty fall color, but Butter London's polishes chip rather quickly on me.
Ulta: Sun of a Gun- The perfect non-neon orange creme. It's not the dusty, pumpkin spice-y orange I was hoping for, but it's cheerful and easily wearable spring through fall.
Sephora by OPI: I Think I Cayenne- Metallic autumn orange. Nice formula.
Cocoa Allure: Autumn Leaves- Red, gold, and coppery brown glitters.
Blacks, Whites, and Neutral
Blacks, Whites, and Neutral
Butter London: The Black Knight- A droolworthy black with multicolored sparkles in blue, purple, and magenta. I was a little underwhelmed with this on the nail. It looks best over a black creme base, and with two layers of topcoat to make the glitter really shine.
Sinful Colors: Black On Black- Two bottles pictured. This is the cheapest opaque black creme out there. I use a LOT of black creme polish as a base for duochromes, so I go through it fast.
Essie: Eternal Optimist- This is my favorite nude creme base. It's a pinky-beige, and it suits my skin tone quite nicely. It's even in two coats. Lighter duochromes look great over it, or sometimes I leave it as-is for a clean, professional look.
Essie: Marshmallow- A pillowy white. Somewhere between a creme and a jelly, which I suspect is where the name comes from. Thin layers are best, three required for total opacity. It's a soft white, so you never look like you've painted your nails with White-Out.
China Glaze: Make A Spectacle- Every holiday season, some version of this gets released. Iridescent white sparklies. Good formula, even glitter.
Greens and Teals
Greens and Teals
Greens and Teals
China Glaze: Westside Warrior- A nice olive drab creme. Opaque in two coats.
Sinful Colors: San Francisco- A very very sheer pine green. Meh. I very rarely use this.
Sally Hansen HD: Resolution- A light, shimmery, sheer green with just the teensiest hint of blue. Works best as a layering polish.
Sally Hansen Salon Manicure: Fairy Teal- A medium teal creme. Opaque in two coats. Use a basecoat or you'll NEVER get the stain off your nails.
Essie: Go Overboard- I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS COLOR. It is a deep, dark teal. It is practically opaque in one coat. Repeat: LOVE.
Petites: Utopia- I bought this because it appeared to be a teal/purple duochrome glitter in the bottle. Not so on the nail. A pretty standard fine teal glitter.
Sinful Colors: See You Soon- Very sheer navy. Meh.
Sinful Colors: Pearl Harbor- Blue/teal iridescent glitter. VERY gloopy. But I will give it this: if you want a polish that will not chip, use this on top. It lasts.
Silvers and Silvery-Blues
Sinful Colors Nail Art Striper: What A Night- Separates easily. I would have preferred a silver glitter stripe on par with my gold Stripe Rite striper, but enh.
Sephora by OPI: Justa' Pinch Of Glitter- Glitter with different shades of gunmetal, and different sizes of round glitter.
Nicole by OPI: Nicole's Nickel- Similar to the above, except this stuff is PACKED wth glitter that goes on amazingly smoothly. I also LOVE the wide brush-- it really distributes the polish evenly. Two coats to full, glittery opacity.
OPI: I Don't Give A Rotterdam- A really pretty pale silvery-blue with silvery-gold microshimmers. I didn't expect to like this, but it's truly stunninng, even on warm skintones.
Zoya: Megan- A grey creme with a hiiiiint of a lavender-y blue. Was a sample through Birchbox. I never would have purchased this on my own, but it's nice as a base for lighter duochromes, and I even like it on its own. Two coats to opacity.
Brazilian Duochromes
HITS Phenomena: Afterglow- Glitter that shifts yellow, green, purple, and blue. SUUUUPER thick and goopy. Almost unusably so.
HITS Mari Moon: Unconventional- Shifts between a purple with teal highlights and wine red.
HITS Mari Moon: Dreamer- A cobalt blue to purple shift. Unless you get your nails wet! Then you'll see some yellow and green.
Ludurana: Show- An intense teal to purple shift.
Ludurana: Emocianante- Practically the same polish as Dreamer, above.
Drug Store Duochromes
Sally Hansen HD: DVD- A very sheer but distinct purple to blue microshimmer shift. This looks amazeballs over black, like a glittery night sky.
CQ: Idyllic- Reddish purple, rust red, and olive green shift.
CQ: Rustic Dream- A very pretty sunny gold to coral shift.
L'Oreal: The Temptress's Power- I know a lot of nail bloggers were disappointed in how sheer this one was, but I love it over a nude creme polish. Yellowish-beige shimmer with a strong green highlight.
Sinful Colors: Just You Wait- A pink so sheer it's basically a tint, with a spring green highlight that shifts to gold. Very pretty over nude or light pink.
Scherer Chameleon: Corona- Microshimmer gorgeousness that shifts from baby pink to baby blue.
High-End Duochromes
High-End Duochromes
High-End Duochromes
Sephora by OPI: S-age Is Just A Number- This is pretty close to the Chanel Peridot craze. Not an exact dupe-- it leans a little more teal blue than spring green, but they have the same golden shift and metallic finish.
Zoya: Adina- This is another of those "is it a duochrome?" colors because both the purple and the green are visible at the same time. It's amazing, and this was the polish that made me fall in love with polishes.
Nina Ultra Pro: Molten Copper- I don't get the name. The color shift is between pink and a silvery-gold. Very sheer. Layers well.
Orly: Space Cadet- Reddish purple to yellowy green glass fleck. Super sheer, but layers nicely.
Nubar: Wildlife- Army green to pinky gold.
Nubar: 2010- The first of the glitter flakie topcoats that all other brands have copied, the most accessable of which is Essie's Shine Of The Times. Shifts between orange, gold, pale blue, and green.
Nubar: Iris Dust- Pinky purple to bronzey gold.
Ozotic: 505- Basically the same polish as Ludurana's Show, but with a flawless formula. It's a shame this one is discontinued. Ozotic had an amazing line of duochromes that they shelved in favor of glittery duochromes and holos, and it's practically a crime.
Topcoats and Basecoats
Seche Vite: Two pictured. My favorite top coat, but with a caveat. It gets gloopy-- too gloopy to use-- halfway through the bottle. You'd think that Seche would just fix the freaking formula, but no: instead they sell Seche Restore, a few drops of which automatically thins the polish. BAH!
A England: The Knight Basecoat- A dud, honestly. I love the look of A England's polishes (though I haven't bought any yet), but this stuff takes FOREVER to dry. I basically only use it when I am using polishes I know to stain.
Nubar: Diamont Topcoat- Hard to come by unless you order online, but I liked it well enough. No goopiness problems.
Essie: Matte About You Topcoat- Makes shiny polishes matte. Very neat effect! Though I do find it chips much faster than shiny basecoats. I know that I'm sort of an exception because of how much wear and tear my nails take, but I'm talking 1-2 days. Also, thin coats or you get weird white spots.
Remover
Zoya Remove: BEST REMOVER EVER. Seriously, it's great. Also, three cheers or the flip-top packaging. No spills. And I'm not gonna pretend that it's not stinky, but the lavender scent tamps the stinky down a little bit. My only complaint is that I have to order it. I wish it were more readily available.
And there you have it: my monster nail polish collection. However! I can honestly say I have worn EACH of these polishes in some way (alone or layered) in the last year. I work with metal and have to change my polish on average every three days.
Favorite Brands: Essie's cremes. Zoya's shimmers. Nicole by OPI for glitter.
Overrated Brands: I can't say overrated per se, but I find that Butter London's polishes chip quickly on me. I know that's not a common sentiment. But they are very expensive, so I only purchase them when there's truly unique color I want to try.
Favorite Polishes: Ozotic 505, Essie A-List, Essie Eternal Optimist, Essie Go Overboard, Zoya Adina, Zoya Faye, Nicole by OPI Nicole's Nickel
Polishes On My Wishlist:
Butter London Wallis- gilded olive, looks so gorgeously baroque
China Glaze Def Defying- neon lime
China Glaze Holly Day- I need an emerald creme
Cult Nails Flushed - SUPER glowy purple
Dollish Polish Heart Of Glass - Disco holo glitter
Finger Paints Codur Orange- I will never be over the fact I couldn't find this when it was out
Models Own Indian Ocean- I actually ordered this before being refunded because it was out of stock
Rescue Beauty Lounge Halcyon - sage green with pink highlight
Rescue Beauty Lounge Santa Fe Road- Orangey terra cotta loveliness
SpaRitual Blue Moon -pretty pretty vibrant navy
SpaRitual Break Of Dawn - Gorgeous ruby pink glass fleck
SpaRitual Shooting Star - Magenta awesomeness
Zoya Rekha- Droolworthy deep red creme