Can't Win 'Em All: Butter London Yummy Mummy

Finding the perfect nude polish has been an epic battle.  It seems like no matter what I do, they just don't work for me.  I blame it on my wonky skin tone.  It has strong yellow undertones, so anything too cool-toned fails, but then nudes that are too yellow don't work either.  I don't get it.  I ADORED Butter London All Hail the Queen, but I'm still on the hunt for something a little closer to my skin tone.  You guys know I love me some Butter London, and the brand themselves say Yummy Mummy is "simply stunning on EVERY skin colour."  Who am I to argue with CAPITALIZATION?  I threw in Yummy Mummy with my Ulta Buy 1 Get 1 purchase.

Yummy Mummy is a "medium beige" nude with subtle silver shimmer.  Almost a secret shimmer.  The color is almost a taupe, and I think it leans a little on the cool side (but I'm horrible with the warm/cool thing).  The application was a little subpar for Butter London, but after two coats everything evened out and opaque.  So, is Yummy Mummy my Perfect Nude??

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Not even close.  I want to love this, but it just looks weird on me.  Even my hubby told me "it doesn't go with your skin or something."  So right, dear.  I fear Yummy Mummy is just too cool-toned for me.  Sigh.  Wonky skin tone wins again.  Perfect Nude - I WILL find you!

So Yummy Mummy didn't work so well for me, but it is one of their best-selling colors, so if you're on a quest for your Perfect Nude, it's worth giving it a shot.  Hopefully it'll be just what you're looking for!  :-)

SpaRitual Shooting Star

So here is the other half of my SpaRitual haul (told you it was small).  I loved Sacred Ground, but I'm obsessed with Shooting Star.  It's a beautiful and shiny magenta color with pink micro-glitter and gold shimmer in it.  The pink micro-glitter is very pronounced, but the gold shimmer is more subtle.  I didn't actually even realize it was there until I removed it and it was pretty obvious on the cotton ball.  This is one of those glow from within polishes.  And just like Sacred Ground, Shooting Star is very unique, unlike anything else I have.  Again, the formula is awesome.  These pictures are without top coat.  Is is so shiny and smooth.  And sparkly.  The polish is beautiful indoors, but outside it just sparkles.  This is two coats.  

SpaRitual Shooting Star

SpaRitual Shooting Star

SpaRitual Shooting Star

Shooting Star is part of the 2011 Holiday collection called Twinkle.  It's brand new so should be easy to pick up.  Like I said yesterday, I haven't even seen SpaRitual in a store, but they are easy to find online at stores like Aveyou.com and Beauty.com for $10 a bottle.

SpaRitual Sacred Ground

When SpaRitual first appeared on the nail polish blogger scene, I didn't have a real desire to try it.  People raved about the formula, but my rapidly expanding collection didn't need any other new brands to obsess over.  That is until they released Sacred Ground as part of the Fall 2011 Wilde collection.  I started seeing people post swatches of this baby and I couldn't help myself.  I just had to have it.  It was unique and beautiful, so I told myself I could do it and did a mini SpaRitual haul.

Sacred Ground really is beautiful.  It sophisticated and edgy, while still being shimmery and glittery. I've worn this a few time since this initial swatch, as both a mani and pedi.  The polish itself goes on great, this was two coats.  It's a grey polish packed with silver, gold, and lavender micro-glitter.  Maybe even a little blue.  The gold really just gives the polish this beautiful earthy vibe, bringing out some brown in the polish.  Unlike some of my other recent nail polish dislikes, I love the gold in this.  Also the silver simmer has a bit of an iridescent quality to it.  In the sunlight it sparkles a rainbow of colors.  My only small complaint about SpaRitual is the bottles.  They are super cute to look at but to hold them for a swatch picture is almost impossible for me.  I almost dropped the bottle twice trying to get my fingers lined up. Oh well. :)

SpaRitual Sacred Ground

SpaRitual Sacred Ground

Ughhh! So pretty I can't stand it.  I'm so happy I picked this up (and the other SpaRitual I will be showing you next).  Between the outstanding formula and color, I'm sold on this brand and will be trying more in the future.  I haven't even seen SpaRitual in a store, at least not around me, but they are easy to find online at stores like Aveyou.com and Beauty.com for $10 a bottle.

Red Obsession: Rescue Beauty Lounge Chinoise

Weird olive greeny-goldy colors aren't my only obsession this fall.  For some reason I'm on a red kick all of a sudden.  There's just something so classic glam about a fierce red nail.  I recently showed you guys another look at my "Holy Grail" red, Essie Limited Addiction, but to be honest, it's really the only red creme I have.  I just loved it so much, I never felt the need to add anymore.  Somehow, that's changed, because I've brought home four different reds over the past month in an effort to spice up my red wardrobe.  First up - Rescue Beauty Lounge Chinoise.

Chinoise (French for "Chinese"; Pronounced "sheen-wah" or "sheen-wahz") is a bright red creme that leans on the orange side.  Warm-toned girls, this is your red!  I've steered clear of warm-toned reds for some reason, but I have no idea why.  I think it works with my skin tone pretty well!  I've heard tales of Chinoise being a super duper pigmented "one-coater" red polish, but I didn't find that to be true for me.  I did get my bottle in a swap, so there's no telling if it was thinned at all, but I found it to be a bit on the thin side.  I'm showing two coats below, but you can definitely still see some VNL.  I think three coats would've taken care of that, but VNL doesn't bother me, so I just left it at two.  Application was a dream, and thankfully I didn't have any trouble with bleeding or staining while cleaning up.  Win!

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Me likey!!  So glad I tried this one out!  Totally the opposite of my cool-toned Limited Addiction.  The hubby also loved it, but he's a guy and guys love red, so that's not surprising, right?  LOL

Ji dedicated Chinoise to the late Diana Vreeland, a famous fashion editor, but if you read her blog and/or her Facebook posts, you'll notice she often refers to her husband as "Mr. Chinoise," which I think is really cute.  :-)

I hope I did her proud, because Chinoise definitely gets the thumbs up from me!  There are probably cheaper alternatives (one of which I'll show you later), but I can definitely say that I wouldn't feel bad about spending the $18 on this one.  The formula was standard RBL perfection, and the color is beautiful.  Chinoise is one of the five core RBL colors, but it does go out of stock from time to time.  Luckily, it just restocked at the beginning of the summer, so I think there should be plenty to go around for now.  Perfect timing for the Bring It Back pre-order this Friday!  *\o/*

How to ruin a manicure with Turquoise Shatter

Remember last time i used OPI's Turquoise Shatter, and how much I loved it?  Turquoise Shatter came out as part of the summer shatter collection for 2011.  It doesn't shatter as well as some of the other polishes, but at least for my last mani, it was awesome.  I wore it over Essie Super Bossa Nova and the color comb with just the hint of pink was rocking.  So when I decided I wanted to spice up my Orly Royal Navy manicure, I threw some Turquoise Shatter on it.  Big mistake.  I'm not sure what I did, but this time it barely shattered.  Whether the shatter needs to be thinned, or I put on too thick of coats, but it covered up my beauty Royal Navy and just resulted in an overall FAIL!

OPI Turquoise Shatter over Orly Royal Navy

OPI Turquoise Shatter over Orly Royal Navy

Close up of OPI Turquoise Shatter over Orly Royal Navy

Oh well, we can't win them all can we?  Turquoise Shatter is still available at stores like Ulta or online at my favorite (non-affiliated) nail polish e-tailer Aveyou.com.  It retails for $8.50 a bottle.

Another Look: Orly Royal Navy

I have been away too long!  Sorry for the long break in posting again folks.  I've had way too much going on in my life, some good, some not so good.  But things are getting back to normal, and I'm about 10 manis deep on posts.  The first up is Orly Royal Navy, which I acquired a while ago but never put it on.  Then when Courtney wore it to my house for fourth of July, I new it needed to be move up on the priority  list.  It's SO beautiful.  This is also my first Orly polish in a LONG time (like since college), so it was fun to "try" a new brand again.

Royal Navy is a bright fun royal blue jelly packed full of teal shimmer.  Courtney and other bloggers have had issues with the shimmer settling in the bottle, so I made sure to really mix it up before applying.  It went on super smooth.  I love when polishes are easy to apply!  I did notice that trying to clean up the polish was tough if I had gotten it on my skin.  It does stain a little, so make sure you use a basecoat and be careful with your application.  I've got some pretty good pics below, and a close up that really shows off the shimmer. I think the best thing about this polish, is you ALWAYS see the shimmer, not just in the sun (I'm looking at you, my beloved RBL!).

Orly Royal Navy

Orly Royal Navy

Orly Royal Navy

Close up of shimmer in Orly Royal Navy

I'm totally smitten with this one!  Royal Navy was part of the In the Navy Collection Orly put out for summer of 2010.  You can still find it in stores, and Sallybeauty.com has is for $5.99.  Not bad!  If you love blue, I suggest picking this one up.

Zoya Neeka

Exactly one month ago today (AND on our blog's 100th post!) I showed you Zoya Yara that I picked up during Zoya's last big promotion.  They were giving away two free polishes with a purchase, and lucky me - I needed a new bottle of Remove +!  My second free polish that I chose was the ever-so-popular, Neeka.

Neeka is a smokey, eggplant purple with large, irregular gold shimmer, and super fine pink shimmer.  The finish is similar to Yara, but the gold flecks aren't quite as pronounced.  It dries a good shade or two darker than the bottle color, but I was totally fine with that.  The finished product is beautiful, but I'd say these photos show it a little bluer than it is (Suprise, surprise, right?).  The formula was perfect - definitely the best Zoya I've ever worked with.  It's super pigmented, but still easy to clean up.  I'm showing you two coats below.

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Neeka is probably hands-down the fan favorite from the Smoke and Mirrors collection.  While it's really beautiful, I just really wasn't wowed by it.  I don't know if I just can't get over my supreme love of Yara, or if it just reminded me too much of RBL Catherine.  Speaking of Catherine, here's a quick comparison of the two:

(L) Zoya Neeka, (R) RBL Catherine

Certainly not dupes, but maybe...kissing cousins?  Neeka is lighter in color and the gold shimmer particles are much larger.  Strangely enough, now that I've worn both I can say that somehow the smaller shimmer in Catherine shows up better on the nail.  I think Neeka's smokey base is the culprit.  They're different enough to own both, but you may be able to satisfy any lingering Catherine lemmings with Neeka, for less than half the price.

Bottom line?  I love Neeka, but I'm not in love.  Yara is the star of the show for me from that collection, and she already stole my heart.  I still more than recommend Neeka, especially if you don't already own RBL Catherine.  Zoya really knows how to put together a great collection, and they did it again this fall. :-)