catrice beleive in jade (iconails)

i already wrote how much i like the current catrice collection, iconails, when i wrote about aqua man-icure. today, i am showing believe in jade.

believe in jade is, well, as the name says, a jade polish. it is a perfect jade though, not too muted, not too bright, just perfect. formula is also amazing, as well as the brush, so i am definitelly recommending this line.

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.

zoya envy (truth and dare)

zoya envy is from there really old collection truth and dare for autumn 2009.

in ever truthful words of zoya people, it is a "deep blackened green with subtle yellow undertones and barely-perceptible shimmer." in my opinion, that shimmer is so barely perceptible that i honestly first saw it in this description :).

is a really nicely formulated creme. under at least a bit of light, it can barely be mistaken for a black polish, but it has a tendency to appear more black than green. certainly the darkest green i own.

natural light:

picture polish citrus

picture polish citrus is so old that i am not sure which collection it comes from. it is also from the era before they started publishing pictures of bottles. 2011 is the earliest that i found info about it.

citrus is a perfect summer polish. the orange is so juicy, it almost smells like fruit. it is bright and almost neony, with a surprisingly amazing formula, with two coats enough for a total coverage.

dior bleuette (glowing gardens)

this year's spring collection from dior, glowing gardens, had a couple of interesting polishes. one of them is bleuette. garden can be found here.

bleuette is a stunner. a gorgeous blue creme, bordering on being pastel.it is a baby blue with a hint of green in it, just enough to make it (completely) different from 2015's porcelaine. i don't know if i like it more in the sun or in the shade.

it has a magnificent formula, totally untypical for these sort of shades. i am really impressed by dior polishes since they got reformulated.

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china glaze blue bells ring (holiday joy)

blue bells ring is one of my favourite polishes from the amazing china glaze collection holiday joy. winter holly, angel wings, cranberry splash and glistening snow were already featured here. 

i've been drooling over bbr swatches ever since first pictures of holiday joy emerged, but when i finally got the bottle, i was utterly underwhelmed. it looked too silvery with only a hint of blue, nothing like the swatches. but, when i put it on my nails, i was amazed!

china glaze really knows how to make blue polishes with a twist. this one falls in the amazing category, together with blue iguana and frostbite. it is electric blue packed with silver foil shimmer, giving it a metallic look. it looks so amazing, the pictures don't do it credit! it is definitely a one coater, i added the second but it really wasn't necessary. the formula is on the thicker side, but it is easy to work with .

the only problem is removal. it doesn't stain the nail itself, but when you remove the polish, firstly the entire blue part goes away, leaving the silver foil. blue part stains the skin around the nails, but it disappears after you wash your hands a couple of times.

it looks the best on a cloudy day:

opi green-wich village (mod about brights)

mod about brights is a really old opi collection from back in 2008,  making green-wich village one of the oldest polishes in my collection. the it color was already shown here.

green-wich village is a proper swampy, froggy green, and quite bright and in-your-face. 

even though it is so old, the formula is still the same as it was, which is, not perfect :) it is a sheer creme, and it definitely needs three coats to get to the full colour. i am a great fan of greens, so this is right up my alley.

picture polish pandora (opulence)

i am finally showing pandora from picture polish's opulence collection from 2014.

pandora is a really gorgeous shade. a dark-leaning purple with that awesome scattered holo effect that makes it look alive.

formula is great, two coats give perfect coverage and the finish is smooth even without a top coat.

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a england proserpine (rossetti’s godess)

proserpine is another a england masterpiece from rossetti’s goddess collection. incense burner was the first polish i showed from this collection released in 2015.

my fear that proserpine would be too close to another a england beauty, saint george, was luckily not correct. while they are both rich, deep teals, proserpine is much more blue.

it really is a stunning polish, with amazing holo effect and formula. my type of shade for sure!

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catrice aqua man-icure (iconails 117)

it's been a while since a catrice polish made an appearance in my stash. this is going to change in 2023, as i finally re-discover their iconails range, and my first pick was aqua man-icure.

as i started writing this post, i realized that i actually already have an iconails tag. apparently, i wrote about one of the early additions to the range, mermaid my day, and after frantically searching for it, i remembered that i actually finished the bottle in a year. 

catrice was the brand that got me into nailpolishes quite some time ago, but after they changed the brush into a complete mess, i started to completely ignore it. after i discovered that i brought just one polish to a trip, i decided to take a look at catrice once again, and this one immediately caught my eye. aqua man-icure is a gorgeous light blue. the brush is amazing again, and even though the shade suggests that the formula may be difficult, it was actually quite the opposite. it's no wonder i got two more polishes during the year, and i am sure i will pick up more.

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