picture polish voodoo (classic shades)

voodoo is a quite old picture polish shade, back in 2009, and belongs to their classic shades range.

voodoo's tagline is "see the darkness, fell the magic". it is gorgeous. in real life, it definitely isn't as brown as in promo bottle and it is mainly a burgundy sort of shade, with gold, rich glass flecks.  very vampy and pretty.

formula is also flawless. i see it as a less purple, more brown version of nopi shoot for maroon.

opi russian navy matte (suede)

opi came up with their matte collection in 2009, when they took some of their popular polishes and made matte version. in the end, since the original and the mattified one had little in common, it created a bit of confusion, but it didn't stop me from owning a couple. i am shoving russian navy matte today.

russian navy matte is your simple navy blue matte polish. no shimmer, no nothing. it might seem flat and boring, but it's a good one to have in collection as it truly is one coater, has minimal striking problems, and the formula is still great even though we are approaching year 10. i usually wear it simple and bear for a day, and add a topper the next.

natural light:

new in: 2017

2017 was another reasonable year. i got 29 polishes in total, out of that, 21 picture polish, 7 ysl and 1 zoya. 

new in: 2016

2016 was modest, not just in polish addict sense, but in any sense. i got only 24 polishes, but they are all awesome.

new in: 2015

after 146 new polishes in 2013 and 99 in 2014, 55 new polishes in 2015 feel like nothing!

dance legend velvet 648

today, i am showing a polish from dance legend's velvet collection (or Бархат in russian), number 648.

lately, my love for matte finishes reemerged. i know i know, you can mattify anything, but i still like polishes that have the effect to begin with.

648 (i wish it had a name) is really gorgeous. colour is very rich, a mix of dark grey and blue, with rich shimmer and amazing velvet finish. the formula is good, no streaking and difficulties. just gorgeous.

natural light:

new in: 2014

after 2013, where i ended up with 146 new polishes, the fact that i accidentally (and just!) stayed under 100, seems like a huge success!

new in: 2013

2013 was definitely my heavy purchase year, with 146 polishes in total. insane, i know!

picture polish copper field (collaboration shade)

copper field is yet another picture polish collaboration shade, this time from 2016 and made together with laura vgp.

well, the name really says it all. the shade is copper, and with the name-play (the magician david copperfield), it truly is magical.

it is a duochrome metalic, predominantly copper with shifts to gold and ping. add scatter holo particles, and you get a concoction that is never too much. i love it, especially in these gloomy days.

natural light:

a england encore margot (ballerina)

a england polishes keep amazing me. especially awesome collection called ballerina  consists of four beautiful but elegant holos, and today's star is encore margot.

named after dame margot fonteyn, classical english ballerina, encore margot is a true ice queen shade.  in a england words, it is  it is "a standout icy blue prismatic hue, destined for curtain calls". it is a strong, silver linear holo polish that looks metallic. even though the effect is strong, the base color stil makes it elegant and soft.

i don't think that anyone makes holos with such an amazing formula as a england, it really flows like butter. 

natural light:

opi can't let go (mariah carey)

i loved the four textured polishes from opi's mariah carey collection, and i regret getting only mini versions.

for some reason, can't let go was the first one i wanted to try. imagine it a bit more purple and a bit less blue, a true medium purple, with an occasional purple hexagonal glitter. i must say, i am a fan of the liquid sand finish. it takes about 15 minutes to dry completely, and i was pleasantly surprised with the formula, even though it' s a mini, it was very easy to apply it. 

i wore it over china glaze grape pop, just to save it.

natural light:

chanel blue rebel (les jeans)

les jeans  is ancient but awesome chanel collection from back in 2011, and it's time i showed blue rebel. other two polishes were equally awesome coco blue and blue boy.

this collection was supposed to be jeans inspired, and this polish emulates your basic dark, slightly washed out pair beautifully. it is the darkest blue out of the trio, but still too light to be called navy. more like a deep denim shade. it is awesome, well pigmented and with good formula.

i am sure that by now there are plenty of dupes out there, but i am simply happy i have this one.

opi tomorrow never dies (skyfall)

skyfall was probably the last collection from opi that blew me away.  maybe it's because i didn't own billion polishes at that point so it provided me with a lot of interesting shades. one of those was the gorgeous tomorrow never dies.

and tomorrow never dies truly is special. the shade is blurple/indigo, with that gorgeous blue and pink "powdered" shimmer that almost gives that "lit from within" kind of look.

the formula is slightly on the thick side, but good to work with and even though it looks like a stainer, that doesn't happen.

sunlight:

catrice rusty but sexy (core 2012)

catrice rusty but sexy 560 is my type of orange shimmery polish!

rusty but sexy is a rusty, burnt orange  metallic polish. it has golden sparkles when it's under direct light.

it is in the group of those "almost one-coaters" and it tends to leave visible brushstrokes while applying it, but the formula is self-leveling so it's all nice and even after a few seconds.

natural light:

picture polish mermaid (collaboration shade)

for today, i chose one of the newest picture polish collaboration shades, mermaid. it was made together with hungarian online shope, nailland.hu.

when a polish is called mermaid, it has to be awesome! mermaid is a blue jelly base filled with hex glitter and scattering holo effect. it is very very pretty. dries a bit gritty, but one layer of a top coat was enough for a smooth finish.

fun lacquer fashion show (new year 2016)

it's about time i showed yet another fun lacquer awesomeness, this time fashion show from the new year 2016 collection!

fashion show is such a complex polish and a complete chameleon. it is part purple, part blue and part grey and the side it shows heavily depends on the light. i took the direct sun pictures, that turn blue, got inside, it was more greyish, i went outside again and concluded that both indoors and outdoor pictures are faithful.

on top of the shade versatility, we have this dense golden holo glitter. simply awesome! formula is also great, it takes a tiny bit more effort to take it off but it's worth it.

direct sunshine:

picture polish lime light (neon shades)

i am not so much into neons, but i have a soft spot for greens, so i had to take picture polish lime light from their revamped neon shades collection.

lime lite originally appeared in 2013, but got a rebirth in 2016. and i am happy for that! it is an awesome, bright green. formula is very decent for this type of polish, the first coat is a bit sheer but it builds up nicely. there are no bold spots or visible brushstrokes. 

it is such a great summer/beach polish and i got it just in time, before the summer ends!

chanel vertigo (les essentials de chanel)

it's about time i showed chanel vertigo, a part of chanel's fall 2012 trio, together with frenzy and suspicios (hitchcock, anyone?)  

 it is a very complicated shade. it is dark, plummy brownish and greyish at the same time, i am pretty sure it looks different on different skin tones. in addition, it has that typical chanel hidden shimmer, when there is just enough of it for it not to be a creme. it is an elegant shade that i actually wore to my phd defense almost 4 years ago.

formula is decent. i am not a fan of chanel brush, it's too thin for my taste so i kind of stopped buying them lately because of this, but if you are happy with it, it's great. 

dance legend melange 276

dance legend melange 276 appeared when i was out of pure black creme polish for a while. i decided to choose something from dance legend, since i was always happy with their brush and formula.

i ended getting number 276 from their melange collection, not completely black but one of those off blacks that takes an expert eyes to see that it's actually not. as usual, formula is flawless and it's a perfect choice for layering.

natural light:

opi honey ryder (bond girls)

i am still on board of the textured polishes bandwagon, and i really love opi's honey ryder from their bond girls collection.

honey ryder, named after the epitomic bond girl played by ursula andress, is a champagne gold shade. it has gold glitter in it, dries superfast and is a definite one coater. i would call it a festive shade, but i love to wear it when i'm in a (typical) all black outfit. 

overcast day:

china glaze frostbite (ski)

wow, this polish is old. frostbite comes from a holiday china glaze collection, ski, back in 2007.

frostbite is such an awesome polish that can never look as good in the pictures as in real life. a stunning, cobalt blue, with that crazy "lit from within" type of shimmer. so special and cool.

it is metalic, so visible brush strokes do occur, but nothing too annoying. i am very happy i have it.

natural light:

picture polish sky (light shades)

one of my rare 2017 purchases (for now) is actually an ancient picture polish shade, sky, from their light shades collection in 2007.

it is a really special light blue pastel, really resembles the sky but in its a bit murkier mood. the formula is nice, especially for an old pastel, but it needs three coats. nevertheless, they run smoothly so i don't see it as a bother.

nopi shoot for the maroon (2012)

i am showing one of my favourites today, shoot for the maroon from nopi's 2012 collection.

when you have a lot of polishes, it happens that you kind of neglect some of them, but then you rediscover them and fall in love. i wore shoot for the maroon so many times this winter and i'm still not bored of it.

and how could i be, just look at this perfection! such a rich burgundy/purple shade with perfectly matched golden shimmer. it's a dream. it looks stunning both in shade and in the sun.

formula is also nice, it applies smoothly and nicely. such a gem of a polish.

sun:

zoya hazel (irresistible)

gorgeous polish such as zoya's hazel from their spring irresistible collection is such an interesting polish that it's almost said that they described it so simply:  "full-coverage, blue green foil metallic".

hazel has everything i like: the base colour that is definitely unique, an icy, steely blue with goldish flakes that i would never think would go well with the base, but they fit perfectly.

the finish is both foil and metalic, but there's no problem with application or brushstrokes. i am really impressed with this polish, it looks a bit space-y.

picture polish altered state (limited edition)

one of my favourite picture polish polishes are limited edition shades.  it's time for altered state!

like in the cases of aurora and illusionist, i am wearing one coat over a black polish (dance legend melange 276). this one would maybe do better over dark blues, because the colour shift goes from deep, dark blue over violet-purple, even to coppery red at extreme angles, that i simply couldn't capture. add some holographic glitter to this, and you get the magic!

this one has the weakest multichrome effect out of all the other polishes from this collection, but don't let that make you think that the effect is small! again, prepare for the picture overload!

natural light:

ysl blanc arty (street art)

while ysl is still my favourite nail polish brand, i have to sadly admit that my dream of having all of their polishes is disappearing: i missed on vandal orange, for example, from spring 2017 collection street art. but, i did snatch blanc arty.

i do love a good white nail polish, and blanc arty definitely falls in this category. although they tend to have unfriendly consistency, are prone to streaking and difficult to apply, they still look awesome on the nails. blanc arty is one of the best, if not the best, formula-wise.

natural light:

essence time for romance (color and go 72)

well, essence time for romance from their original color and go collection, might just be the oldest polish i never swatched in my collection (but i am half afraid that something older may pop out).

i have no idea how this came to happen, because this time i basically used up all the last drops of polish. it appeared in their first color and go edition, somewhere back in 2011, but it made a reappearance in their revamped color and go collection in a new bottle.

it is a wine red jelly base with some rosy hexagonal and tiny glitter. it was well pigmented, the glitter didn't sink and you didn't need to chase it in the bottle. it was a bit gooey and prone to shrinking, as you can see from my tips. nevertheless, it was a very fun polish.

direct sun:

gosh ocean (540)

while i'm on the subject of polishes that are hard to capture, say hello to gosh's ocean, that i won on cayca's giveaway ages ago. i almost finished the polish but i'm just now showing it. 

it is one of the polishes that gets mentioned as a close enough dupe for chanel azure. gosh is a danish brand so not so easy to catch, therefore i don't have no idea if it is supposed to be more accessible than the chanel one.

it is a very pretty (mostly) turquoise duochrome, that shifts through many ranges of blue and green, depending on the light. it also has a touch of iridescent effect on it. brushstrokes are there, but not overwhelming. a perfect summer polish!

natural light:

opi i vant to be a lone star (texas)

i vant to be a-lone star is a completely unusual polish from opi's texas collection for spring/summer 2011. 

this polish is completely strange, and i love it. the color is a muted, dusted light blue that has this pastely feel to it, even though it has silver shimmer.opi describes it as "starry silvery-blue". i find it to be absolutely stunning and i love it.

even though it needs three coats for complete coverage and decrease of the brush strokes, i would still say that the formula is surprisingly good.

natural light, with some overcast:

dior exquis (holiday 2011)

my polish of choice for this occasion is one of my first high end polishes, gorgeous exquis from dior's holiday 2011 collection. other polishes here were or divin, mervielle and apparat (that i wish i owned).

exquis is a very rich and complex shade. it is somewhere between olive green and brown, with a lot of gold shimmer running around. it's one of those edgy but classy polishes.

formula is great, but unfortunately, i got a weirdly cut brush. still workable, though, just making life more difficult.

natural light: