Zoya Gemma

Zoya's Gemma is a drab olive green with a subtle (but not completely hidden) blue flash. The formula was excellent, and covered nicely in two coats. 

This will be a lovely colour for spring, and I'm looking forward to wearing it then... what do you think of Zoya Gemma? Do you like to wear these types of olive/army greens? 

A-England Princess Sabra / Black Cat Lacquer Black Hole

I must say, I have never been let down by an A-England polish. Another amazing colour with a flawless formula. Princess Sabra is a gorgeous golden-olive with a linear holographic effect. This was such a dream to apply and wear... it just feels effortlessly chic. 

I decided to attempt an accent nail with Black Cat Lacquer's Black Hole, although I think a different base colour might have helped it pop more. Love the holographic black diamond glitter in this, though. The bottle looked amazing in the sun (somewhat visible in the second picture).

What do you think of A-England's Princess Sabra? Can you think of any other possible pairings for Black Hole?

Finally, I'll leave you with a few details about a recent purchase; every holiday I look forward to holiday-themed scents. Philosophy is a notable one for putting out delicious-smelling shower gels, and this year I couldn't resist their "Cookbook": a set of four scented shower gels in Old-Fashioned Eggnog, Buttered Rum, Cinnamon Buns, and Peppermint Bark.

I'm happy to say that all of these smell delicious, and I've especially been enjoying the eggnog and buttered rum scents... because it's basically a perfect start to the day when I can roll out of bed, jump into the shower, and come out smelling like rum.

Wet N Wild Fantasy Makers - Nail In The Coffin

Is anyone else getting into the mood for Halloween? It struck me about a week ago, when I started decorating the house. Now I'm looking forward to kitschy Halloween movies and working on my Halloween costume (potential options include Wonder Woman, as well as The Log Lady from Twin Peaks- I just love Halloween costumes where only a handful of people "get" the reference!). 

Anyways, today I have some Halloween nails for you- I adore the little tombstone-capped Fantasy Makers polishes, and picked a couple of them up earlier this month. Right now I have "Nail In The Coffin" to show you, an extremely dark blackened shimmer with tiny golden olive-green flecks that barely peak through the base. I really wish the shimmer showed up more in this, but unfortunately it's pretty hard to see in most lights. 

What do you think of Fantasy Makers Nail In The Coffin? Did you pick up any of the tombstone-capped polishes this month? 

I'll leave you with a clip from one of my favourite kitschy Halloween movies: Hocus Pocus! 

Nails Inc Mirror Metallic Nail Polish in Cheyne Walk and Stratford

When I saw these new Nails Inc Mirror Metallic polishes pop up on the Sephora website, I caved to the temptation to see what they were like. At the time I ordered them I couldn't find anything online about them, so I took the plunge and ordered both Cheyne Walk (multichrome purple metallic) and Stratford (multichrome champagne metallic). Pretty much anything with "mirror" or "metallic" in the description will get me every time.

These are what they look like in the bottle:

Cheyne Walk is a purple metallic that shows flashes of a somewhat murky olive colour. The combination is interesting, but the colour shift is not as pronounced as in Stratford. 

This is probably the closest these polishes get to a "mirror" effect, but I personally classify them as a metallic. When I think of a true mirror effect I always envision the gold and silver Minx manicures. Sadly, this isn't an effect achievable through nail polish yet (or else I strongly suspect I would wear nothing else).

The colour shift in Cheyne Walk is most accurately captured in these last two pictures.

Stratford is a light champagne gold metallic with strong flashes of peach, yellow, pink, and at times, pale green. Out of the two, it's my favourite; the multichrome shift seems stronger in this than in Cheyne Walk, which I like. 

In direct light (as seen above), some very minor brushstrokes might become evident, but I definitely don't classify this as a brushstroke-prone polish. Overall I quite like the finish.

Stratford really looks fascinating in certain lights and at certain angles; in the picture above you can really see the range of colour in this lacquer.

These last two pictures are truest to how Stratford looks the majority of the time: a smooth shiny pale gold, with touches of yellow and peach.

Overall I'm happy I ordered these. I'm a huge fan of any chrome, metallic, or duochrome finish on a polish, so these made me quite happy. I also suspect that these might be somewhat close to the Deborah Lippmann Mirrored Chrome Nail Lacquer collection that recently came out. In particular Stratford seems kind of similar to "Sugar Daddy" from that release. I don't have them to compare, though- I'm just going by some of the swatches I've seen online. Does anyone have an opinion on possible similarities between these? 

What do you think of Nails Inc Mirror Metallic Cheyne Walk and Stratford? Which one is your favourite?