Welcome, welcome!

Today I have a beauty from the indie maker Pahlish. Valley of Ashes was a part of her The Great Gatsby Collection from a year or so ago. It's easy to say that this one polish was the pivotal turning point where I went from a Pahlish enjoyer to a Pahlish hoarder. Pahlish is now my largest indie brand collection that stretches well into the triple digits. 

This stunner is a cool toned grey crelly that is filled with a duochrome shimmer that flashes between green and a pink/purple. The pink can be hard to capture on camera, but is very visible on the nail. I just simply adore this polish. It's one of those that calls to me whenever I am wanting a grey polish. 

{Outdoors: full sun}

{Indoors: natural light}

Brand: Pahlish
Availability: Discontinued; can occasionally be found on blog sales
Coats: 3 coats

Today I have an absolute beauty to share with you! I'm excited to get a chance to share a new Christian Louboutin polish, which I was lucky enough to receive as a birthday gift from my wonderful husband.

Farida, which is part of the Noir collection, is described as a shimmer bronze brown and I'd say that's pretty spot on. It leans more brown in indoor lighting, with the bronze really coming alive in the sun. I will say right off the bat that I know the pricing is a bit insane for some people and I totally get that. For me though, this is more than just polish. It's a work of art. The bottle is weighty and substantial. The handle is sleek and well proportioned. This is easily something that can be sat out on display as an art piece. But that's probably not what you want to know. You want to know about the formula. 

Flawless.

Seriously it's been ages since I have had a formula that was so nice that it surprised me. It felt like butter going onto the nail. The brush put the color right where I wanted it and glided along the nail beautifully. It wasn't too thick or thin, just perfect. Had I been prepared for how well it applied it would have been a one coat wonder. Instead I went with two thinner coats, which also worked perfectly. I'm just really impressed. Now that's not to say that other colors won't have issues, but this one was just perfect.

Along with that, I applied this mani four days ago and all I have is minimal tip wear and very slight chipping on the edge of my left pointer finger. Which is the finger I use for pretty much everything. Very impressed.

{Outdoors: full to setting sun}

Brand: Christian Louboutin
Availability: Christin Louboutin, Sephora, Nordstorm, Saks Fifth, Neiman Marcus
Coats: 2 coats

Popping in with a quick post with a simple OPI mani I wore earlier this year. 

Red Lights Ahead...Where? is a color I always liked on other people but never picked up myself. Red is one of those colors that I really enjoy, but never seem to reach for to wear. I have no idea what the hang up in my head is, but I have one. So odd. But when I found this bottle on sale I grabbed it up. It was originally a part of their Spring 2012 Holland collection. I wore it on a snowy day and it still looked bright and brilliant, even when seeing it in the cloudy snow covered outdoors. It's a very orange leaning red, it almost feels neon in a way.

There are bubbles in the polish, but that's due to my top coat disliking me going from the warmth of the house to the cold of the outdoors to take the photo. 

{Outdoors: snowy cloud cover}

Brand: OPI 
Availability: Can be found on Amazon
Coats: 3 coats

Time to share a polish I made last year in support of cancer research!

This Emerald & Ash polish is called Eff Cancer, for so many reasons. It's a purple jelly that is filled with various colors of purple flakies. This was never released by us, but is still something I wore to show support of cancer research. Along with that I did an accent nail in Tangerine Tango Shimmer from Sephora + Pantone Universe. Tangerine Tango was the color of the year a few years back and it was the first time we saw Sephora and Pantone partner to put out a makeup collection base on the color of the year. I personally chose orange as an accent as it is the ribbon color used to show support for kidney cancer. Something I lost my mother to years ago. 

I will note that Eff Cancer is a true grape purple, but purples are very hard to capture properly on camera.

{Outdoors: full sun}

 {Outdoors: shade}

Brand: Emerald & Ash and Sephora + Pantone Universe 
Availability: Eff cancer was never released; Tangerine Tango Sparkle was discontinued
Coats: 2 coats Eff Cancer; 3 coats Tangerine Tango Sparkle

Hello and welcome!

Up on deck today is a brand that I don't own a lot of, but always enjoy when I see swatches of their various colors. I have gotten my hands on a wapping TWO Contrary Polish's thanks to a friend and a blog sale. Hopefully I can add more to my collection in the future, as the ones I do have, I very much enjoy.

The Way I Am is a dusty sage green creme that has a fuchsia shimmer and matching glitter mixed in. It's an odd color, but odd in a great way. It's a combo of colors that I actually really love together. I distinctly remember wearing green khaki pants and a magenta top when I was fresh out of high school. So it's like my outfit was put into a bottle and now I can wear it on my nails whenever I want!

{Outdoors: full sun}

Brand: Contrary Polish
Availability: Looks to be discontinued; possible to find on blog sales
Coats: 3 coats

Hey, hey, hey!

The combo today...it's one of those combos that as soon as I pulled them out and saw them together it was an instant "I MUST HAVE THIS ON MY NAILS" moment. And so it was.

First up is OPI Go On Green. This was part of the Brights collections all the way back in 2005. It's a sheer (read, very sheer) duochrome that shifts from a pastel green to bright aqua color. Because of the sheerness I decided to layer it over Zoya Purity, my go-to white. For an accent I used Liquid Sky Lacquer in Wink (a gift from a dear friend). It too is a pastel blue/green color that is full of sparkling linear holo. It is seriously mesmerizing on the nail. In fact the combo of both of these was freaking my camera out the whole time. 

{Outdoors: full sun}

Brand: OPI, Liquid Sky Lacquer & Zoya
Availability: Go On Green is a discontinued color but can be found on Amazon; Wink is available on Liquid Sky Lacquer's online store
Coats: 2 coats Go On Green over 2 coats Zoya Purity; 2 coats Wink

It felt really fitting to share today's polish...well today, because it's the start of fall. So really, how could I not share a polish called Autumn on the blog in celebration of the cooler temperatures and changing trees?

Today's polish is from Enchanted Polish and very appropriately named Autumn. It's just so perfectly fall. Full of a range of colors that flash from a burgundy to a coppery gold with a finish in the olive green range. Splash some holo in there and I am ready to be sipping on a warm apple cider while wearing this.

{Outdoors: full sun}

 {Outdoors: shade}

Brand: Enchanted Polish
Availability: Just restocked on Sept 14th; possibly found for swap or on blog sales
Coats: 2 coats

Today is a twofer with a polish from butter LONDON and a polish from my very own line, Emerald &Ash. I have to say that I am a big fan of subtle accent colors. I like that you may not notice them at first, but when the light hits it just right there's a sudden flash of extra color. That is very much the case with this manicure. 

First I started out with the butter LONDON color Giddy Kipper, which was gifted to me by a very kind polish lover. I had always enjoyed the color when I saw it, but it fell into the often forgotten category when I was searching for a new polish to buy. Now that I have it, I can say that I really am happy to have it in my collection. It's a lovely purple that falls on the lighter side. It's like it wants to be a darker periwinkle. There is also a beautiful white shimmer that gives the polish extra depth. Over the top, on the middle fingers, I used a coat of a polish I made for Emerald & Ash called Moonlit Snow. This topcoat is full of white, silver and blue glass flecks and flakies. It twinkles just like freshly fallen moonlit snow. I love how it adds an extra pop of shimmer to the nails, without being overwhelming or in your face. Very subtle, just the way I like it. 

{Outside: full sun}

Brand: butter LONDON and Emerald & Ash
Availability: Giddy Kipper is available through butter LONDON's website; Moonlit Snow is available through Emerald & Ash's online store
Coats: 2 coats Giddy Kipper and 1 coat Moonlit Snow

Let's just put this out there now. I love green. Now don't get me wrong, as a whole I am a lover of all things color, especially when it comes to nail polish. Green though, green has a special place in my heart and I am pretty much sold when it comes to any shade of green. And I mean any shade.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's move on to the nail of the day, which just so happens to be green. Not so shockingly. Today is a lovely, vampy dark green from Rescue Beauty Lounge. I very much adore polishes from RBL as they tend to be unique and really richly colored. They are a bit on the pricier side, but for me it's worth it whenever I see the beauties she puts out. This color is called Anne and is from her 2010 fall collection Real Housewives of the Tudor Dynasty. I was lucky enough to be gifted this from a friend this past Christmas. What I really love about this polish, besides the color, is the gold shimmer plus this stunning purple flash of sparkle. Just so much love. It's one of those polishes that photos do no justice for.

 {Outdoors: full sun}

 {Outdoors: shade}

Brand: Rescue Beauty Lounge
Availability: Discontinued; possible to find on blog sales

Coats: 2 coats