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: