Hard Candy Sky

I think that Hard Candy Sky is going to be my “something blue” in the form of my wedding-day pedicure!  It is a delicate baby blue creme, and the blue microshimmer adds a little something extra.

Indoor light/shade:

Bright sunlight, which coaxes that gorgeous blue microshimmer out of hiding:

Yummy!

~ Allison ~

2 L/E Sally Hansen Insta-Dri’s – Teal-y Fast and Bronze Ablaze

I snagged these polishes at my local Walgreen’s for about $5 a bottle.  They are from the Insta-Dri Fall 2011 collection.  Normally I don’t bother with this line because the colors don’t call my name, but these I had to get.

Teal-y Fast (groan, that name) is a richly pigmented teal foil.  This applied like buttah in two coats.  The photo below is in indirect sunlight.  Although there’s a hint of a purple duochrome effect in the bottle, it doesn’t translate to the nail.  I don’t mind though because this color is so scrumptious.

And bright, direct sunlight:

Bronze Ablaze also applied wonderfully with no muss.  It’s a rich metallic bronze, really the quintessential fall shade.  The wrinkling you see on my ring finger is not from Bronze Ablaze, but from my Seche Vite which I slopped on too thickly methinks.

True to their names, these dried in a flash and would be perfect for a quickie manicure when time is short.

~ Allison ~

OPI DS Bold & Temptation For Fall 2011

Here are the latest OPI DS polishes for Fall 2011, two glitters in red (Bold) and purple (Temptation).

Bold is a pale silvery pink glitter in a red base.  The base is darkly tinted so it builds up nicely on its own.  While this polish is OK, I’m not really thrilled about it.

Temptation is a deep purple glitter with specks of blue and silver in a blue base.  I found this to be the more appealing of the two since I’m a sucker for purples.

Apologies for the non-existent cleanup – that glitter did not want to budge from my skin.  That was a turnoff.  Maybe I was just having a bad polish day, but I couldn’t for the life of me get a clean gap.  Although these colors are OK, I don’t have too much to say about them.  The glitter was very gritty and needs about 2+ layers of topcoat to even out.

I purchased these up from Ricky’s (an NYC beauty retailer) for $9.99 a bottle.  What are your impressions of this new DS series – will you skip them or scoop them up?

~ Allison ~

Two Sinful Colors Greens

Here is a comparison of two greens by Sinful Colors.  I got these at my neighborhood Rite Aid for about $1.99 a bottle.

Show Me the Way

What a stunning color!  Sinful Colors Show Me the Way is a golden green with a glass fleck finish.  It is so alive and glowy!  I used 3 coats here.  Although the nail line is pretty visible in these photos, it wasn’t in real life.

HD Nails

HD Nails is a cooler-toned green pearl. Application was buttery smooth.  This is three coats.

This one really comes alive in bright sunlight.  I added black tips, too, with Wet N Wild Creme Black.

~ Allison ~

Essie Mesmerize

Essie Mesmerize is a deep medium blue creme.  What a great name for a nail polish, although I would imagine a holographic or duochrome nail polish to be more mesmerizing.  Anyway, this baby dried extremely glossy, almost like a jelly.  This works great for both summer and autumn, IMO.  This is two coats.  I’d say the first picture is the most color-accurate.

~ Allison ~