Layla Soft Touch in Mudhattan

You may recall my appreciation for the Layla Soft Touch line in my posts here and here. Well, it hasn't wavered with my latest experience with Layla's Soft Touch in Mudhattan; I'm still loving this smooth semi-matte nail finish! Mudhattan is, as you might guess, the colour of mud. More particularly, it's the dusty taupe brown of dried mud. And it's also got the coolest red micro shimmer- seriously, click the pictures to make them bigger and scope it out! 

Very cool. This manages to feel chic and edgy at the same time. I can't recall if I bought this particular bottle through Nail Polish Canada or Ninja Polish, but I can vouch for both of them being fantastic retailers!

Have you tried any of the Layla Soft Touch polishes? If not, have I piqued your interest in them?

Gosh Galaxy

I've got a short and sweet post for you today- this is Gosh Galaxy, a sparkly and complex mixture of pewter-y taupe with multicoloured shimmer (including particles of blue and pink and flashes of gold). It has a similar finish to Zoya Fei Fei and other related colours. In fact, it reminds me a little bit of The World Is Not Enough from the OPI Skyfall collection, except more brown in tone. 

What do you think?

Dandy Nails Bathed In Light (...the polish I wish I'd made!)

Today I'm going to show you an amazing polish; in fact, it's probably my favourite lacquer of the past year. This is Bathed In Light by Dandy Nails, and it's the polish I wish I'd made.

Bathed In Light is a glorious mixture of a pale grey/taupe base, golden/pinkish red duochrome flash, and fine holographic shimmer. The overall effect is very ethereal; it's very unique and actually has a lot going on, but is also quite subtle and wearable for any occasion. Behold!

So very, very pretty. And that's yet another reason why I adore indie polish. I can't wait to see what my fellow indie polish makers come up with in 2013!

What do you think of Bathed In Light? If you're as taken with it as I am, I'm pleased to tell you it's currently in stock at the Dandy Nails Etsy store.

Smitten Polish - Bluebird

The thing that strikes me the most about nail polish in 2012 was that it was a great year for indie polish. We went from having just a few handmade choices at the beginning of the year to having a plethora of indie polish makers crafting unique and inspired lacquers. I'm thrilled to be able to say I've been a part of it! In addition to making my own polishes through Pirate Polish, I'm a huge supporter of the other wonderful ladies making handmade lacquer. Today I've got a polish from one of my favourite indies: Smitten Polish. This is Bluebird, a unique combination of different shades of reflective blue glitter in a taupe creme base. 

What do you think of Smitten Polish Bluebird? Do you have any favourite indies that really impressed you in 2012 (don't worry- you're not obligated to say Pirate Polish!)? I'm always looking for recommendations! 

Next time, I'll be showing you an indie polish that I really wish I'd made- it's really amazing, so make sure to check back to find out what it is! 

Sally Hansen Concrete and A-England Merlin

Tonight I've got one of my very favourite polishes to share with you: Sally Hansen Concrete. What makes this polish so special? Well, it's the best neutral I own, and it's the colour I pull out whenever I want to feel professional and polished. Concrete is a perfect taupey-pinkish-beige (in some lights it pulls more grey, while in others it's more of a soft purple/pink). It's always incredibly flattering- more so than any other shade in my collection. It also holds the status of being the only truly back-up worthy lacquer in my collection- quite a distinction! Without further ado, here's my beloved Concrete: 

I also decided to add a gradient of A-England's Merlin to this mani; the fine, delicate silver glitter makes a nice addition to Concrete, although I didn't get the glitter dispersion as even as I would have liked!

What do you think of Sally Hansen Concrete? Can you see why it's perhaps my favourite shade of all time?

Do you have a favourite polish of all time? Let me know in the comments!

Sally Hansen Taupe Pearl Chrome

Today I've got an oldie for you: Sally Hansen Taupe Pearl Chrome. 

It's taupe. It's chrome. 

Strange combination. But kinda pretty. See?

A little brushstrokey in the sun.

A look at the label:

So, what do you thing of this oddball polish? I had never considered the possibility of a taupe chrome before. It's weird, but neat. It looks a bit more taupe in real life than it does in the pictures. Want to see more blast-from-the-past Sally Hansen Chromes? Check them out here!

OPI Skyfall Collection Minis - Swatches!

It's rare that the OPI minis released with each major OPI collection contain the colours I really want from the collection, but in this case they contained every colour I really wanted to get my hands on! I have swatches of the four OPI Skyfall minis for you today.

First up I have Goldeneye- a dense golden flakey glitter in a clear base. This is two coats of Goldeneye, and if wearing this for a manicure I'd probably do a third in order to ensure opacity (in the last photo, taken in direct sun, it tends to look a bit sheer at two coats). I really love this one, and it's my favourite of the bunch. Incredibly luxurious and glitzy, I haven't come across anything like this before! 

Live and Let Die is a deep forest  green with golden-green flecks. The formula on this was fantastic- almost perfect in one coat. It reminded me slightly of Essence Walk on the Wild Side (reviewed here), but compared to that this is a darker green, and the glass fleck is more pronounced.

The Spy Who Loved Me is an extremely bright cherry red jelly with flakey gold shimmer in it. When I say "cherry red" I'm mostly thinking of that red pencil crayon that was always assigned the title "Cherry", even though it wasn't anything like the colour of a real cherry. Has anyone else puzzled over that? At least in my experience, cherries are usually a deeper red- nothing like this shade. Well, anyways, no matter how you want to describe it, this is a lovely red. It feels very festive, and holiday-appropriate!

The World Is Not Enough is an interesting one; formula-wise this was a little frustrating. It's quite sheer, and requires at least 3 coats for opacity (I used three below, and it could have used another). It's an unusual mixture of taupe/silver/pink flakey shimmer. I'm loving all the flake shimmer in this collection. Overall I like this, and appreciate how unique it is; I think I might try layering it over another colour next time, though.

What do you think of the OPI Skyfall minis? Will you be picking up any colours from the collection?

Maybelline Color Show Fall 2012

Today I've got three polishes from the Maybelline Color Show Fall collection to show to you! All required about two-three coats for opacity. Price-wise, these are pretty reasonable at $4 to $5 dollars, and some of the shades are fairly unique. 

Left to Right: Auburn Ablaze, Metal Icon, Downtown Brown 

First up I have Downtown Brown; I think this is the most unique of the bunch. It's a chocolate brown base with very strong blue-green shimmer running through it. I haven't seen anything quite like this, and it reminds me of MAC Blue-Brown pigment (or MAC Club eyeshadow, which I've heard others mention in regard to its similarity to this polish).

Whether indoors or outdoors, the teal shimmer is very apparent on the nail. No hidden shimmer here!

Metal Icon is a taupey-silver foil that is very much the kind of shade I typically gravitate towards. I quite like this one, although it had the sheerest formula out of these three- definitely a three-coater.

Auburn Ablaze is a cool brown shade that leans auburn. It has a red shimmer running through it, but it's  quite subtle. I actually wish this leaned more red than brown, but in most lights it looks like a brown/mahogany shade. What you see here is two coats, but it could have used a third to eliminate the sheer patches.

What do you think these new Maybelline Color Show lacquers? Do any of these shades appeal to you?

Nails Inc Sugar House Lane

Tonight I have Nails Inc Sugar House Lane to show you; this is the second of the "Sprinkles" polishes I've purchased (see Pudding Lane here). 

This one is a strange mix... small black and white glitter in a taupe/putty base. Very odd. The formula was good, and this covered in two coats, but I think I prefer Pudding Lane over this one. I think the blue base in Pudding Lane really made the glitter pop; in this case, I think the taupey base colour just looks a little too muddy for my liking. Not that it's bad! I still love the jelly sandwich-esque look, it just doesn't wow me as much as yesterday's shade. 

Unlike Pudding Lane, Sugar House Lane (the actual location is in Newham, a borough of London) doesn't seem to have any particular associations with major historic events, although it was a site of intense industrial growth from the 18th century on. And that's my random tidbit of information about today's Nails Inc namesake!

What do you think of Nails Inc Sugar House Lane? Do you like it better than Pudding Lane?

"Hero Shade" Nails Inc Porchester Square

Today I have a Nails Inc polish to share with you: Porchester Square. This is a putty-ish taupe/grey creme, and I love it. Perfect formula, easy to apply, and shades like these are so easy to wear- definitely a good shade to have on hand for those days when you need something effortlessly elegant and beautifully neutral. 

Now, as you might have noticed, this particular bottle of Porchester Square sports a sticker heralding it as a "Hero Shade". I have no idea what that means in the nail lacquer context, but it did make me think of the "Hero City" designation bestowed upon several cities in Russia and the former USSR. The "Hero City" title was awarded to cities that displayed outstanding heroism during the Great Patriotic War (World War II). It's quite interesting stuff, and if you want to know more I recommend checking out the Wikipedia article on Hero Cities.

I was lucky enough to visit one of the Hero Cities while I was in Ukraine- so here are a few pictures of Hero City Odessa!

The (rather grand) train station:

Beautiful Odessa Opera and Ballet Theatre (gorgeous neo-baroque architecture!):

Slightly frightening architectural details:

The lovely interior of the Opera and Ballet Theatre. For the record, the performances I saw here were top-notch, which is remarkable considering tickets only cost about $15.

Odessa has a lot of fantastic cafes and restaurants! Below you can see the Cafe Fanconi...

...and my favourite cafe, компот (Compote). The pastries here were delicious!

A view of the harbour, as seen from the top of the Potemkin steps (the tall structure is a huge hotel).

Looking up at the Potemkin steps (easier to climb down that to climb up...).

Well, what did you think of Hero Shade Porchester Square? Does it deserve its Hero Shade honorific?