essence black dress and white tie (special effect topper)

number 22 of essence special effect topper line is black dress and white tie.

released back in 2014, it is a cute topper that gives sort of a spotted look. black and white hex glitter is suspended in a clear base together with tiny silver glitter. for me, it is one of those toppers you put on for a day over a polish when you don't have time to remove it, just to spice it up a bit.

essence black dress and white tie over china glaze cranberry splash:

china glaze cranberry splash (holiday joy)

after glistening snow, cranberry splash is another polish i am showing from china glaze's holiday joy collection from 2012.

this type of shimmery metallic red is my favourite type of red fir sure. i ended accidentally owning two almost-dupes of cranberry splash, a england's perceval and butter london's knee up, which is great as this bottle is going to be used up pretty soon.

this ruby red metallic shimmer has this amazing look, really of the holiday sorts, that looks amazing on the nails. i simply love it. it has very subtle brushstrokes, but nothing crazy.

picture polish tasha (collaboration shade)

my idea of a perfect sweater-weather nail polish is tasha, one of picture polish collaboration shades from 2017.

tasha is described as "lilac grey holographic nail polish with holo flakes" created with sonia from bad girl nails, as a tribute to her puppy. and it is a puppy-like fluffy shade, a pale lavender with flakie-type of shimmer that i adore. it is very pretty.

opi moonraker (skyfall)

as i already mentioned in tomorrow never dies post, opi's skyfall collection from 2012 was probably their last that completely blew me away. not their fault, i think, as in that period there was not as high chance as now that i will have something at least similar to a new shade.  i purchased six shades, and now it's time for moonraker.

from what i can see, people either love or hate this polish, and i am definitely on the love team. opi's description: "drive your fastest car to get this exhilarating metallic grey".  the color is steel grey with a hint of blue. when you apply it, the finish looks like it would be metallic, but it dries like a gorgeous chrome. 

i admit, it is streaky, and if your nails have ridges (like mine), they would be visible, but, weirdly enough, i love the final look. i think that the best evidence of my love for this polish is that i wore it twice in last 10 days.

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a england moth the fairy (shakespeare's fairies)

after puck a fairy, i am showing another polish from a england's shakespeare's fairies collection, moth a fairy.

moth a fairy. a literal omg. if you want one black holo, go for this one. a england's description is "a black hologram with additional iridescent glimmer". it is gorgeous, it sparkles, looks awesome under light and in shade. formula is also smooth and nice.

ysl mauve alternatif (yconic purple)

mauve alternatif is a stunning violet from ysl's fall collection of 2018, yconic purple.

mauve alternatif is absolutely stunning, and i had to put it on immediately after i bought it. it is a gorgeous, rich shimmery violet that i can never get enough of.

it's been a while since i had a ysl polish on, and with the first nail, i remembered how their brush is made for me. it was sliding like heaven and the formula was awesome.

dance legend constant reminder (hammering)

my only choice from dance legend hammering collection was constant reminder.

what i love about dance legend is that they quietly set the trends, and they are always on point, no messy ideas gone bad.

constant reminder is a interesting silvery green metallic polish. it has a really strange, unique finish of a hammered metal. i have only one coat, without a base or top.

i read that the effect is more visible if the polish is applied on bare nails, so i will have to try it like that!

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china glaze draped in velvet (we adorn you)

china glaze's draped in velvet appeared in their 2006 we adorn you collection, and together with awaken was the first china glaze polish i ever bought.

draped in velvet is a gorgeous magenta purple polish, with very interesting blue microshimmer, giving it (surprise!) velvety look. i pretty much wear it mostly on cloudy days because direct sun makes it look washed out. 

the first coat is patchy, but the second one makes it fully opaque. it is a very interesting shade! i keep going back to these oldies lately, and they make me so happy.

revlon facets of fuchsia (expressionists)

super ancient revlon's facets of fuchsia is a polish that made me realize that my nail polish addiction began.

i still remember the day i saw it for the first time in 2012. my colleague is allergic to cocoa, and she accidentaly drank some coffee with it and got a mild rash and asked me to go to with her to the nearby drugstore to get something to cover it up. i went with her since i had no idea we head a drugstore across the street, but i didn't take my wallet.  and bam! i saw facets of fuchsia and immediately fell in love. since this is not serbia, and i'm not that close with this colleague, it felt awkward to borrow money from her so i decided to get it on my way home. but, as it always happen, i had a lot of work to finish, and when i went home. the store was closed.

that's when the hallucinations began! on the next day, which was saturday, i was DJing in austria, and from the beginning wanted to wear my purple dress with black stars.  in my head, this dress could only be worn with revlon on my nails, and that if i don't have the polish, my dj set would completely suck. that drugstore was the only one i saw the polish in, so, the entire friday night i thought about going there on a saturday morning before we start our journey to austria, but somehow managed to bring myself back to normality and decided to wait until monday morning! 

the polish is opaque enough after two or three layers, but it is probably better to layer it in order to be happy with two.

fun lacquer cheers to the holidays (h) (christmas 2015)

i had a big obsession with f. u. n. lacquer polishes, and i am showing you cheers to the holidays (h) from the christmas 2015 collection. btw, i like how they put the name of the collection on the label, not just the name of the polish.

cheers to the holidays (h) is a holo version of their polish with the same name and the same base colour but without the holo particles.

it is a truly awesome polish! it is a proper multichrome, shifting from purple and red to blurple, blue and even bronze. my camera washes out the colour in the direct sunlight, but this polish is constantly multichrome, no matter the lightning. add to the mix a fine combination of holographic microglitter and shimmer, and you get a truly unique polish!

i was wearing this one for three days and couldn't stop staring at my nails, with it showing me a different side very time. it is a bit tricky to remove because of the glitter, but the foil is not really needed. formula is good and it's not a top coat eater, as i thought it might be.

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picture polish pshiiit (collaboration shade)

picture polish collaboration shades have that habit of being too gorgeous to be captured faithfully. trust me, pshiiit, the polish created by camille from pshiiit.com, is one of those shades.  this is one gorgeous blog, with amazing manicures and pictures.

to call pshiiit beautiful would be an understatement. i wore it three times, and my camera refuses to pick up the gorgeous green nature of this chameleon, so you can see just one aspect of it.

the base color is a highly saturated turquoise jelly duochrome (looks greener in the bottle), with green shimmer and flakes. it's vibrant, eye-catching (i went clubbing with it, and when i saw official photos from the event, my nails really stand out :D) and simply gorgeous, pictures don't do it justice.

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opi my private jet (night brights)

opi's my private jet is one of their most famous, and most controversial polishes. it originally appeared in 2007 collection night brights, but apparently there are three versions out there.

the original was more black and of a linear holo type, and mine is brown, with fine holographic shimmer. i like both versions, but i am not really happy that this one needs three coats for full coverage. even this is not enough sometimes, as you can see some bald spots on my middle finger.

nevertheless, i do like it, not only because of its notoriety.

china glaze water you waiting for (cirque du soleil worlds away)

cirque du soleil worlds away was a really awesome china glaze collection, and one of the polishes i got is water you waiting for.

water you waiting for is a gorgeous, glittery bomb of blue jelly base and blue and green glitter.

if it reminds you of nicole by opi kendall on the catwalk, let me say, they are very, very close to being dupes. the glitter in nopi is slightly denser, and that's about it.

nevertheless, it is a great and fun polish, with a decent formula, opaque after two coats, and dries into sort of texture.

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franken polish time for heroes by shine eye

 the first of my franken nailpolishes, is this one, time for heroes!

whenever i make a new polish, there is the fun time of naming it. as i decided to go with a music theme, so the first one will be named after the libertines song time for heroes, since one of the highlights of my life was seeing this very important band for me a couple of months before making the polish.

time for heroes' main theme is my favourite colour, olive green. not too dark, and filled with shimmer. who knows which polishes had to die in order for it to arise, but it's all for the best.

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a england order of the garter (the legend)

poor order of the garter, it is the only polish in the a england's the legend collection that's not holo, so it get's overlooked! i have to add their description, because it is always so poetic: "majestically deep and filled with truth's purity & strength of will, this royal blue inspires honour with every scintillating pulse."

order of the garter was being on and off my wishlist for so long that i decided to take it, just to get over with it. it is inspired by the english highest order of chivalry and the color of it's sash.

it is a beautiful medium blue, with small  lighter blue glass flecks. the first coat was a bit sheer, but the opacity was built up nicely after the second. it has everything you expect from an a england polish: a great brush and good formula.

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butter london all hail the queen (fall 2010)

this polish first appeared as a part of butter london's fall 2010 collection, where it was called all hail mcqueen, but change the name to just all hail the queen later on. the other three polishes were bumster, marrow and victoriana.

this was the first BL polish i picked up from the shelf, and immediately fell in love with it. this is how the color really has a nice beige, sandy tone and it is packed with fine scattered holographic glitter. formula is great, nothing to complain here.

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essence night in vegas (special effect topper)

my favourite topper ever came from essence back in 2012, and it's called night in vegas. it came as 8th polish of their special effect topper range.

i love, love, love flakies, and this polish goes so well over everything, as you will see as i slowly update this post. multichrome flakies, shifting from yellow through orange to green, are perfectly dispersed in a clear base. i used up one bottle and this is one is the second one. 

kiko lattementa (core 389)

today i am showing my only kiko polish, lattementa (also known as mint milk) from their core collection.

lattementa is my go to polish these last few summers. i think i never gor as many compliments for a polish as for this one.

and it doesn't take much wondering why. it is simply a stunning mint polish, bright and captivating. formula is a bit thick, but self leveling. even if it wasn't good, it would be worth it. since i love it so much, i am going to overdo it with photos, so bear with me.

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opi you only live twice (skyfall)

it's time to present another opi from the skyfall collection, this time it's you only live twice. opi's description: "this rich high-shimmer magenta is a once-in-a-lifetime find."

i'm not quite sure that magenta is the accurate color to describe this polish with.  to me, it's more of a raspberry red  base with hint of magenta\pink with pink and gold glass flecks. the base is a creme-jelly combo, so even though it seems sheer after one coat, it gets full opacity with second. the formula is standardly good. 

i am not the biggest red fan in the world, but throw some glass flecks in and i am sold! they really made this polish special.

ysl vandal orange(the street and i)

fitting to this heat wave, i am showing ysl vandal orange from the last spring's the street and i collection: "inspired by the graffiti art that colors the cities of the world, yves saint laurent introduces the limited edition “the street and i” spring collection.  the contrasting colors of the city come to life as a limited edition accessory: an orange inspired by street art; and an urbane take on asphalt grey, a shade that’s all around us but rarely as beautifully expressed as this. perfectly representing the tensions of the street, pair them, one shade on both fingers and toes, or mix and match: you’re the artist here."

my obsession with ysl is well known, so where a normal person would ask a question: "do i really need another orange creme?", for me it was a matter of "snatch it while it's still available. and orange is such a versatile shade for people that wear monochromatic clothes. 

vandal orange is awesome: combination of a clear orange and a perfect formula. definitely hot weather must-have.

chanel malice (holiday)

malice was the only polish in chanel's holiday collection for 2012.

i was so lucky to get this polish. at the time, i literally got the last bottle in serbia, thanks to the group effort of my dear nail polish girls crew.

it truly is a perfect polish for holidays. a deep burgundy red, filled with ruby red shimmer, it even melts the hearts of red antifans like myself. it looks rich, with a great formula, and i'm really happy i have it in my stash.

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essie sexy divide (winter 2008)

sexy divide is a really old essie polish, back from the winter collection of 2008.

this polish and me have a complicated relationship. i got it as a present when i was buying polishes on one blog sale. initially i thought it's great i got it, because what can be better than a shimmery, purple gorgeousness.

but, it has a runny, difficult formula, combined with the old thin brush. it is almost a torture applying it. for some reason i think that the new formula with the wide brush is much better, but i have no evidence. nevertheless, i still wear it from time to time because it is pretty.

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picture polish salt water (collaboration shade)

salt water, a collaboration shade of picture polish with nailstorming, is today's star.

the promo pictures of this polish don't do it justice. i believe that turquoise/light blue/mint shades are really something that picture polish people know how to make and i am always looking forward to a new one, and salt water is no exception.

it's a lovely shade of turquoise, filled with those holo particles that almost look like flakies. i am obsessed with those, and i think that they are complementing the turquoise shade beautifully. i highly recommend this one!

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essence troy (nail art twins)

one of my favourites in the long line of essence toppers is troy, from the nail art twins collection.

troy is one of my favorite glitter toppers. the clear base is packed with purple, blue and occasional yellow glitter. i always wore it over purplish cremes, but i'll have to play with it more.

a england puck a fairy (shakespeare's fairies)

ok, i will try not to hyperventilate too much in describing puck a fairy from a england's shakespeare's fairies collection from this year.

wow, this polish is stunning. in a england, they describe puck as a "fairy clever and mischievous; the jester of fairyland", of vivid peacock blue green colour, and with holo finish with additional iridescent glimmer.

it is awesome, and so much more vivid and gorgeous in real life. camera makes it a tad more blue, and while there is more green than the pictures show, blue is still the dominant colour.

china glaze glistening snow (holiday joy)

holiday joy was a really awesome china glaze collection from back in 2012, and  i'm showing glistening snow.

i think that china glaze people invented textured polishes before they were a thing, but probably weren't aware of it.

glistening snow has this gritty texture, because it is made of silver and holo glitter. holo effect is, unfortunately, really drowned in my pictures and is much prettier in real life.

formula is decent, i got nice coverage with two layers and it turned out i didn't need aluminum foil to remove it.

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