ysl nuit noire (désir de jour)

today's star is nuit noire, from ysl's spring collection for 2015, désir de jour.

i tried to summon all the imagination i have to see how these two polishes could be considered spring-y, but all i see is winter holidays. (remember spicy, a spring collection, soooo perfect for autumn? :)). nevertheless, there was no way i would miss this duo.

nuit noire  consists of a black, rather sheer base with silvery round glitter. it takes two thicker coats to make it fully opaque. it dries rather dull (but not in a texture way) so it needs a top coat. overall, it is a nice, cute polish, but not superawesome. (adding nuit blanche makes it that way, but that's a story for another day).

natural light:

picture polish darcy (opulence)

today i'm showing the gorgeous darcy from picture polish opulence collection.

i was a kid when the bbc's pride and prejudice 1995. version appeared, but i was completely in love with it. even suggesting that there can be another elizabeth bennet and fitzwilliam darcy other than jennifer ehle and colin firth seems like blasphemy. i even rewatched it last weekend! so, when i saw  that picture polish launched a trio combining the classical (with lizzie) and modern (with bridget) darcy, i knew i have to get it.

yes, black scattered polish isn't the most unique thing in the world (i showed a england's bridal veil just a couple of posts ago), but since these polishes are one of my go-tos for clubbing, i knew it is a good investment. oh, and did i mention it is called darcy?! it is completely black, amazingly pigmented with excellent application.

natural light:

a england bridal veil (the legends)

by now, everybody knows how legendary a england the legend collection really is. i am adding bridal veil to already shown ascalon,  princess sabra, order of the garter, dragon, and saint george.

bridal veil might be the prettiest black holo evere. there, i said it. it is deep, rich black with a subtle scattered holo particles. when i say rich, i really mean it. 

the formula is (still) so smooth and buttery even after all these years, just a proper heaven in a bottle.

natural light:

a england heathcliff (to emily bronte)

the star of the day is heathcliff from a england's to emily bronte collection.

heathcliff is a bit atypical polish for a england range, if you are even a bit familiar with the brand. nevertheless, they can do no wrong in my book.

heathcliff is a black, well pigmented jelly filled with various microglitter. i can see blue, silver, red, purple and gold glitter. it is a very pretty polish with quite a solid formula for a glittery polish.

natural light:

a england tess d'urbervilles (gothic beauties)

back in 2012, a england released probably their only underwhelming collection, gothic beauties. the main issue seemed to be the lack of shimmer, and with all the polishes being either black or off black, it all seemed like a dark blob. i already showed jane eyre, now it's time for tess d'urbervilles.

oh, tess... this hardy's novel is one of the most depressing books i've ever read, i just kept waiting for something nice to happen and it never did. it scarred me for life and i don't even want to watch any of the movie adaptations. but i digress. tess is described as 'like the secretive black of a deep forest, sublimely displaying its provocative emerald secrets". 

in reality, it is a black polish infused with emerald green flecks. it had to be double of the amont for it to really stand out, like this, the effect is mostly subdued. but, like with jane eyre, if you look at it as a simple off-black polish that has just enough of oompf not to be a plain black, then you are fine. formula is amazing though.

a england beauty never fails (heavenly quotes)

today i am showing another a england polish, beauty never fails from the heavenly quotes collection.

having an a england polish on always feel like a special treat, and this one is no different. i am always a fan of a blackened base colour (here, it's dark, dark green) filled with fine bronze/gold glass flecks.

formula is as impeccable as always, one thing you can count on with a england brand.

natural light:

a england jane eyre (gothic beauties)

we are going back to 2012, where a england released gothic beauties collection, with jane eyre as one of six.

my disappointment with this collection has not been a secret. the promise of black base infused with amazing shimmer is not translated well in the reality, as the shimmer gets drowned. i got jane eyre on a blog sale, so i use it when i want plain black polish, or as a base for toppers.

it is advertised as "intensely smouldering crimson embers, imprisoned in a veil of sombre black". as you can see, the red shimmer gets buried in the base, but the base colour itself is very pretty, and formula great. when you look at it as a slightly spiked black polish, it works perfectly.

china glaze cast a spell (wicked)

i know that there were many interesting polishes in china glaze's wicked collection released in autumn 2012, but cast a spell is the one i really really wanted. actually, this polish hadto be one of my favorites of that entire year!

oh, are there even words to describe how amazing this polish is, and even the pictures don't do it enough justice. it is a dark green going to black base with green and gold shimmer, but if you look really closely in the bottle, you can see that it is also packed with multicolored tiny shimmery particles. if you ask me, it is a one coater. i went with two after all, but i couldn't see the difference. 

the formula is beyond amazing. even though it is super pigmented, it is not thick and is really easy to work with.

natural light:

a england natasha's dance (russian soul)

the first beauty i am showing from a england russian soul collection is natasha's dance.

i reread war and peace every few years, so i clearly remember the natasha's dance part in the book.

i'm not sure whether i should call it blackened blue or blue-toned black,  but it is a dark one. in direct sunlight it is obvious that it's not a pure black. it has this vibrant holographic shimmer that makes it pop out, but looks spectacular in shade as well.

natural light:

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.

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.

zoya storm (ornate)

storm is one of the polishes from zoya's awesome collection ornate for winter 2012.

storm is a really straightforward polish, but nevertheless, a stunner. one of those that are a must have in every collection: a black base filled with dense holo particles. in zoya, they describe it as "a full coverage, holiday black with a high concentration of micro fine diamond holographic glitter."

it is beautiful and with a great formula, just like a deep starry night.

natural light:

opi unripened (go goth)

today i am showing my favourite from the four polishes in opi's go goth collection from 2010, unripened.

unripened is a polish that i regret not having in a big bottle. it is gorgeous, rich black base with teal shimmer. the shimmer is also duochrome, although the shift to pink is much more pronounced in the bottle and almost impossible to capture on nails.

can't really talk about formula, since i have the mini version and the brush always annoys me, but it is an exceptionally pretty polish, i am sad that my bottle is done now.

direct sun:

opi 4 in the morning (gwen stefani)

when i saw the gwen stefani collection for opi, i knew i had to have 4 in the morning. so, the time has finally come to show it off.

the moment i put it on, i got that powerful feeling that i have when i wear black polishes (maybe this is the reason my nails were exclusively black during my bachelor's and master degree).

this one is something special. i love this satin-like finish, combined with tiny silver shimmer. it is not the deepest of blacks, but it's gorgeous. the formula is easy to work with, and i think it can get away with one coat.

natural light, no top coat: