China Glaze – Midtown Magic

If there’s one thing that I NEVER do, it’s wear chipped nail polish. I rarely have bare nails, but I will always rock naked nails before I wear them chipped. My late Grandma Ruthy (who always wore long acrylics with a french manicure) always told me that having nicely polished nails was a great way of making a good impression. I distinctly remember traveling with her on an airplane when I was about ten years old, and she told me that I needed to do my nails before we left for the airport. She was clearly of the generation when looking nice to travel was important. (She would probably be appalled at the myriad of sweatpants and hoodies (not to mention a serious lack of makeup) that I have worn on airplanes.  I honestly think that her bit of mani-advice has always stuck with me, and I get a little peeved when I see ladies with terribly chipped nails. What is the point of wearing a hot outfit when it looks like your nails have been rubbed against a cheese grater? I always remove and repaint when my mani is past its prime…except for this past week. Oy.

When I started my new teaching job, I had no idea how absolutely exhausted I would be. Each night, as I looked down at my increasingly ragged looking polish, I vowed to remove it before I went to sleep. But, as I couldn’t stay awake past 9:45 any night this week (when did I become 76 years old?!), the nail polish remover sat untouched on my nightstand. The worst part? I was wearing DARK polish, and we ALL know that dark polish shows the most wear and tear and looks particularly ‘janky’ when it starts to chip. I definitely wanted to review this shade, but I didn’t have a minute to photograph it until the tips had already started to wear and my cuticles started to peel. So, friends, be kind about this photo. I recognize the fact that this mani is subpar, but it’s all my exhausted self could handle. Let’s get to the review, shall we?

China Glaze - Midtown Magic

This China Glaze shade is called Midtown Magic, and it is from the most recent Metro collection. When I saw it on the shelf, I immediately had to pick it up and hold it up to the light. I was immediately intrigued by how confusing this color is! Is it brown? Is it plum? Is it black? I literally couldn’t tell. I could see that it was chock-full of gold, copper, and olive micro-glitter. I had to buy it JUST so I could take it home and invesitgate what color it is! As you can see, this color could go a few ways, and I was dead set on figuring it out.

 

 

China Glaze - Midtown Magic

Here’s the thing…I still don’t get this color. All of that gold and olive glitter that you see in the bottle seems to disappear on the nail, and the only shimmer that shines through is a coppery red micro-glitter. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a copper shimmer. But not when it’s completely unexpected and it overpowers the shimmer I  was expecting! When I was applying this polish, the base was a plum(ish) jelly. After two coats, however, it’s basically black. In reeeeaaaallllllyyyyy good light, it’s a deep (we’re talking DEEP) brown, but unless you are carefully inspecting this polish, it’s black with red/copper shimmer. If I spent all day in the sun, I might love this polish. In the sun, it really shines. But indoors, the shimmer is minimal and the color is black. Midtown Magic is perfect for halloween but not a shade I would wear just for fun. It is definitely fall appropriate, but as a lover of dark polish, this is not one of my favorites. (Sorry, China Glaze.)

I think this color should be titled Midtown MYSTERY because after a week of wearing it (even chipped), I am still not quite sure what color I was wearing. It is an absolute enigma. I don’t understand it. In China Glaze’s defense however, the application of this polish was flawless. Like all of the other China Glaze’s I have used, the formula applies smooth and even (it is totally self-leveling) and it covers completely in two coats. In the end, though, this might be one of those colors that sinks to the bottom of my nail polish drawer. Oh well, it was worth a shot!

Does anyone own Midtown Magic? What color do YOU think it is?

OPI – I Eat Mainely Lobster

*Before I begin this post, I would like to share this with you all: One of my friends pointed out to me that when I type ‘polish’ or ‘polish person’ or ‘polish addict,’ it looks like Polish (as in sausage and perogies) to him. I thought that was hilarious, and I thought you might, too. I encourage you to read this post pronouncing ‘polish’ as ‘Polish’ in your head. It’s ridiculous.

Today was awesome for a few reasons. Here they are:

1. I had a really amazing work out with my trainer, and I am mere pounds away from my summer goal! (woo!)

2. I helped move my younger brother into his new college dorm. (SO. WIERD.)

3. After we ate at the family picnic (and indulged in some delicious raspberry-chip ice cream from Graeters), we took a trip to Target to pick up a few extra items my brother needed…and Target is right next door to my favorite beauty store. So, naturally, I picked up a few shades I’ve been lusting after from the new OPI Touring America collection.

If I had an unlimited income, I would have bought every shade in the display. They are all so beautiful. However, I don’t have an unlimited income AND I got slapped with a bogus speeding ticket yesterday for going 33 in a 25 ($126! Thanks Columbus!). So, I had to limit my splurge to just two polishes. I decided to go with one of the brightest shades and one of the darkest shades in the group in order to get an idea of the true range of this collection. (Also, they were my two favorites…so that also helped my decision.)

I’m going to start by reviewing what I think is the only true “bright” in the bunch: I Eat Mainely Lobster. I think the title is misleading because this polish is nowhere near lobster red…or red at all, for that matter. It is actually closer to a Barbie pink with a splash of orange. We’ll call it Barbie Coral. It has just a hint of pink shimmer, which is different from the other creme shades in the collection. (The shimmer is basically impossible to see in the photo, but it’s there. I promise.)  I Eat Mainely Lobster is bright, fun, and it’s surprisingly summery for a fall collection! I think this was OPI’s attempt to give us the perfect transition shade between summer and fall, and they succeeded. The application on this polish was awesome (as usual), and it really only needed 2 coats for complete opacity. I had one or two nails that looked a little streaky, so I gave all of them a third coat (to be fair, obviously).

When I approach a polish display, I naturally gravitate towards blues, greens, or purples. I have never been much of ‘pink person,’ and I think I probably have less than five pinks in my whole polish collection. I’m very excited to add a pink that I really love and actually enjoy wearing to my stash, so thank you OPI!

*See?! I told you if you read ‘Polish’ instead of polish it’s ridiculous!!!

Essie – Smooth Sailing and OPI – Last Friday Night

After my last post on Essie and it’s effect on my ability to leave the drugstore without some serious splurging, I feel like I need to prove why I love it so much. (SO MUCH.)

This Essie shade is called Smooth Sailing, and it’s from Essie’s most recent Brazilliant collection. The collection consists of two orangey shades, two red/pink shades, one neutral, and THIS. I love this.

Essie- Smooth Sailing

This shade is like slate blue and periwinkle’s lovechild. Throw in the fact that this polish has a beautiful silver/aqua/purple shimmer to it (look at the bottle), and you’ve got yourselves a perfect polish. This is a color that was great for the summer, but I know I’ll be wearing this color all winter long. Smooth Sailing screams bikinis and ocean breeze just as much as it screams icicles and snowflakes. (Wow…typing out the word icicle really makes you think about what a strangely spelled word it is. Icicle. Icicle. …weird.) The consistency of this polish is a little thick for my liking, but the first coat goes on with little streaking and the second coat seals the deal.

Just for fun, I decided to throw a coat of OPI’s Last Friday Night from the Katy Perry collection on top of this Essie gem to see what the duo might look like. I originally bought Last Friday Night hoping that I’d be able to wear it alone, but the harsh reality set in that in order to make this glitter polish suitable for a solo-ride on my nails, I had to paint 3 or 4 coats of it. Any mani-maniac knows that 3 or more coats of glitter polish = premature chipping. Bummer. So, I accepted the fact that Last Friday Night will just have to do as a top coat. It occurred to me tonight that painting one coat over Smooth Sailing might be interesting, and here it is!

Essie - Smooth Sailing & OPI - Last Friday Night

The base of Last Friday Night is a translucent blue, so it’s not easily layered over shades that aren’t blue-ish. I think this combination works well because the blue base doesn’t interfere too much with Smooth Sailing‘s original shade. Last Friday Night‘s glitter style is typical of OPI – larger hexagonal glitter with micro shimmer in the background. This polish sparkles with pink, aqua, and blue, and I love it. The consistency is thick, but…duh. It’s glitter. This glitter reminds me of something you would see an olympic ice skater (man or woman, I suppose) wearing…but not on their nails. On their WHOLE costume. And they’d probably be skating to The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. (close your eyes and picture it…you’ll see what I mean.) I love this combination, and I’ll definitely be pairing these power-polishes again!

What are your favorite glitter polishes?

OPI – On Stranger Tides and Silver Shatter

I know that summer is the time to dig all of my brights out of the bottom of my nail polish drawer (*GASP* that’s right, I don’t have my polishes organized by color in nice, neat rows…they’re just crammed in a drawer) and display them proudly on my fingers and toes. Corals, neons, oranges, and even yellows are always summer favorites. However, this summer, as I approach the polish displays at my favorite stores, I’m finding that my eyes have been drawn to the more muted, dusty colors. Maybe I’m just getting ready for the fall lines that are starting to come out (like OPI’s Touring America Collection or Zoya’s Smoke and Mirrors Collection) which seem to be full of muted, dusty, subtle yet striking shades.

Yesterday, my boyfriend and I spent the evening moseying (what a great word) around Polaris Mall and lo and behold(!) the first store we passed was having a sale on all of their OPI shades! I guess they were going out of business (womp womp), but hey…how often do you get 30% off of brand new OPI colors? I obviously took advantage of this opportunity and snapped up two shades that I’ve been pining for since the Pirates of the Caribbean Collection debuted in the spring: On Stranger Tides and Silver Shatter. I have mixed feelings about the shatter craze, but we’ll save that rant for another day.

On Stranger Tides appeals to my recent love for muted colors and my equally serious love for greens. In the bottle, this shade looks more grey than green, but on my nails, it is definitely more green than grey. (Funny how that works, right?) This is a creme, so I expected a streaky application with some pulling. What I got, however, was a very smooth application with almost no pulling! The first coat was predictably streaky, but coat #2 took care of that. I topped it off with a third coat for good measure, and I was very excited about the result! I’d describe On Stranger Tides as a creamy pastel sage with a slight hint of grey. It reminds me of a color that you might find in the tablecloths or on antique furniture in a beautiful B&B in the countryside. My mother would call this color “shabby chic.”

OPI - On Stranger Tides

After On Stranger Tides dried, I couldn’t resist trying out my new Silver Shatter. I applied a medium-thick coat of silver shatter over each nail and watched as the polish separated. The application is easy, but you can’t forget to return the brush to the bottle as soon as you’re done with it. This polish dries FAST.  My past experience with OPI Black Shatter made me a little nervous about what the final outcome would look like. However, the silver shatter actually created a really beautiful, subtle effect. Unless I hold my nails inches from my eyeballs, I can hardly see the actual shatter lines. I only know they are there because I can see the sage coming through. From a reasonable distance, the end result of this pairing is a beautiful, frosty, pastel sage green. I love it. LOVE IT.

OPI - On Stranger Tides & Silver Shatter

What are your experiences with Silver Shatter? Any favorite pairings?