Nicole by OPI Iceberg Lotus

Nicole by OPI (NOPI) Iceberg Lotus is...stunning. Seriously. It's an electric turquoise shimmer duochrome. 

I have to go ahead and warn you, this is much more vivid and amazing in person. I tried so hard to capture the awesome, but you know, sometimes it just can't be done! I think I was able to capture a bit of the purple duochrome though - if you click to enlarge these photos you'll see it a bit better. This was a bit thin, because the shimmer is suspended in a jelly base, so I used three coats here. 

I know my application is less than stellar because the brush, which is different than my other NOPI bottles, is a short, stumpy paddle type brush. I could not get it to cooperate and it caused some balding and I had difficulty controlling the polish with it. It's a case of madly in love with the polish, hate the brush!

I'll deal with that brush because seriously, there just aren't enough words to describe my drool induced state. 

Color Club New Bohemian

New Bohemian is another shade from the Back To Boho collection from Color Club's fall release. Actually, I think this might be my favorite collection of all the fall collections - I want all but two of these! I've always felt that Color Club is underrated. They make wonderful shades, and though there are a bunch of neutrals in this - they make some really nice neutrals.
So, New Bohemian. This has been compared to China Glaze For Audrey, but that is quite a bit more blue - this is much more strongly green than For Audrey. They're both awesome aqua shades, though. I think this might be a tad more dusty than my photos show, but this is surprisingly color accurate. I thought I would have a hard time capturing this, and although it looks different depending on what lighting I was in, I did manage to find some that were almost perfect!
Let's talk about formula - Color Club usually has some great formulas on their polishes, and this is no exception. I used two coats for complete opacity, and it has a high shine. I like their brushes and of course, the square bottle is perfect.

I just love shades like this - I'll probably always find these irresistible.

Maybelline Cool Couture

Wow. I had so much going on that this has sat in my untrieds for what, almost two months? What a shame - this is a seriously gorgeous shade!
After the disaster with formulas and brushes with the spring/summer releases from Maybelline, I seriously considered not buying any more of the Express Line polishes. They come out with some really awesome colors, but I was severely disappointed with the formula. I caved though, when I saw the fall release. I needed two of the shades, so I went on the hunt. I finally found them in a Rite Aid, and then they went into my untrieds bin while I waded through October's Halloween shades and now, here we are!
Cool Couture is a deep grey, tinged with blue. It's shot through with turquoise shimmer that really lights up in the sun - it actually looks like it sparks both turquoise and emerald in my sun shots. The shimmer is subdued in low light, but I can still see it. I tried to get a good bottle shot, but I think the sun shot and the macro tell the tale the best with this polish.
I am happy to report that the formula on this was seriously perfect. I used two thin coats, and the brush was fine.
Loads of photos, in my attempt to show this off from all possible angles!

So, you know I'm going to repeat myself and say you can click to enlarge these. I also have the purple to show off, hopefully in the next week.

Focus On Duochrome: OPI Glacier Bay Blues

Okay, let's start duochrome week out with a bang! OPI Glacier Bay Blues is from OPI's 2004 Canadian Collection. I found this at a dusty for $4, lucky me! It looks like an oil slick in the bottle. It's...amazing. Seriously, no words to describe how awesome this polish is. It's definitely a multichrome, but hard to capture.
I have heard this looks great layered, but it isn't necessary to layer it - I used it strictly by itself for these photos. Three coats made this perfection. This flashes turquoise, blue, and purple. I can see a weird flash of green even but no way did that even make it on camera. It's absolutely luscious - it almost looks like a jelly shimmer.
I took an inordinate amount of pictures and could not manage to scale them down much, so you get spam tonight for dinner. All of these are in low light, which seems to make for better duo/multichrome photographing.

You can click to enlarge these. Look at that bottle shot! It's amazing, right? Utterly gorgeous.

H&M Bella's Choice

Okay, so if you missed Friday night's post, then you won't know that I recently won a giveaway from the always lovely and amazing Solveig. I mean seriously. Go have a look at Nailin' It, if you've never been there. *swoon*
I received a number of goodies in my package, and this is the second one I have to show you - H&M Bella's Choice. I've heard of this one before and swooned over it. Now, it's mine. (Okay, I totally did a cheesy tone of voice in my head when I wrote that line!)
Bella's Choice (no literary commentary or ranting from me on the name, I'll keep that separate) is a beautiful cool turquoise creme. I used two coats here. You may see my middle finger looks...messed, and I don't even know why.

Ahh, and you see? It's super shiny! I love this shade. It's a stunner.

Glittertastic!

So, you'd think I'd be sick of glitter after having just finished up Focus On Glitter, right? Well, no. I do love glitter. Okay, here's the thing. I suck at almost every form of nail art. I'm not good at glitter gradients. But I tried this, and I like it - I might get better one day. It doesn't look effortless and smooth, but I still like it.
Jessika sent me a little RAOK package recently, with the OCC neon I've already shown you, and with a P2 polish. This one is one of the Color Signals, Bombastic Turquoise. It's lovely. Almost a metallic, very bright turquoise. I decided it needed to be spiced up, so I sort of patted on a layer of China Glaze Atlantis, taking it about 3/4 of the way down my nail. On top of that, I patted on China Glaze Medallion, towards the tips. The result? Glitter-encrusted nails! I love this. Like I said, one day I may get better at making gradients look smooth and effortless in transition. I'm still very pleased with the results of this!

Last picture in direct sunlight, for full on effect. :) You should really click to enlarge these!

Wet N Wild Diving For Pearls

This was another polish from Mermaid's Cove I almost didn't get. Actually, I was only attracted to one of these polishes, and so far I've loved all of the ones I've tried out! I'm slowly getting the hang of the brushes, this application went a bit better, as you can see. This to me is a true turquoise shade, leaning more blue in some settings, and more green in others. It has a lovely metallic shimmer running through it. I only needed two coats for opacity. Another polish you should click to enlarge to see the shimmer!

I think I've got two more of these to show you. I'm slowly making my way through the massive amount of polish I've purchased recently! Haha. There were just too many pretty polishes released.

Finger Paints Art You Wondering?

When I was in Sally Beauty Supply last week, they had a display of "new" Finger Paints polishes. I asked the ladies if these would be part of the permanent collection, and they said yes! I only picked up this glitter, Art You Wondering?, but they had some neat additions to the core polishes in that display.
This is a sheer jelly turquoise base packed with brighter, metallic turquoise glitter. I used three coats for this level of opacity - this is a top coat eater, so I did a sandwich and that seemed to help. This kind of glitter seems to be easier to remove than the thicker, chunkier sized glitter, because it's such a smaller size. There seems to be a fine emerald green glitter in the macro, as well.

Pretty!

China Glaze Blue Sparrow

Hope y'all aren't tired of China Glaze yet - did I mention I'm a fangirl? Yeah. This is Blue Sparrow, from the Ink collection of 2008. I also have Flying Dragon from this collection to show you, my two favorites. I used to have all of these, but I didn't really care for the others much, so I passed them on to better homes. This, as with Flying Dragon, dries mostly matte, so I slapped top coat on it. I LOVELOVELOVELOVE this shade, it's one of my all time favorites, when you put top coat on it, it just comes to life. It's a turquoise blue squishy jelly with true aqua shimmer and it's a stunner. I used two coats here.

You can see the shimmer pretty well in that shot with the bottle featured. Click to enlarge, if you like! Anyone else have Blue Sparrow and love it as much as I do? It's in my top 20 polishes, for sure.

Essie Little Brown Dress, China Glaze Crackle: Crushed Candy

Long post title, eh? I'd been wanting to try a brown underneath the turquoise and pink crackles, so I picked up Essie's Little Brown Dress. It's yummy and glossy on its own, and I quite like it under the turquoise - Crushed Candy - as well. I tried different angles as well as straight up and down, I did sideways and diagonal. Fun!

Little Brown Dress is such a yummy dark chocolate shade. I LOVE browns, I know that's a little unusual, but I do have a thing for them, and this is a pretty one. It's dark, but it's obviously brown even in low light. And the application was nice - my luck with Essie formula has been hit or miss, but this one was divine.

Turquoise and brown, as well as pink and brown, are a favorite color combination for me.

And I'm a little backlogged on posting, I've been so busy with work I just can't keep up with anything I've got going on the side. I like my job, but I hate the hours - I don't think I'll last forever, at this rate. Well, that's an aside for you on a nail polish blog, but that does kind of explain my sometimes sporadic posting. Have a good night everyone!

H&M Moody Model

Well, that was an unexpected break. I moved, and the internet service wasn't set up to be ready to go. (Mind you, they promised it would be!)

I DESPISE that.

Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled program. Tonight I've got an awesome jelly creme teal to show you - H&M's Moody Model. Beware, you might want to use a couple of base coats for protection, this stained like a BITCH the first time I wore it. Using a couple of coats of base coat helped though.

Hot, right? Looks a little darker when not in direct sunlight, but boy, that's just luscious. I wonder if using a ridge filler would help as an alternative to regular base coat with the staining?

Coming up tomorrow is my first franken for this blog. I LOVE to franken jellies of unusual colors, and I just made a kick ass grey I'm in love with.

And this is weird. I went to add the label for this post, and it wouldn't let me use the ampersand symbol - but it let me use the plus symbol? *scratches head* Oh well, I assume folks will get the idea.