new in and empties: 2021

 well, well, well... it took me a while to do this post because i had to triple check, but here we are: i bought a total of 0 polishes this year. 0. this was not planned, just pandemic doing its thing and time just passed. i was by no means on a no buy, but it happend. 

on the other hand, i finished up 8 bottles:

new in and empties: 2020

well, if you needed any more proof of how weird this year was, here's a mindblowing info for you: in this year, i bought only two polishes. TWO. 2. can you believe that. and i finished up 7. who am i? 

new in and empties: 2019

overall, 2019 was a reasonable year, with 15 new polishes (8 picture polish + 3 ysl + 1 ilnp+ 1 cirque, and two gifts (kiko and essence), and 7 empty bottles!

china glaze grape pop (up and away)

it's time for an oldie today, and it is china glaze grape pop, from their up & away collection from spring 2010.

as i look at the polishes from this collection, i see that it was a really successful one, with so many of them making it into the core line, such a classic spring line.

grape pop is a real beauty. i love purple cremes, and this one is among the prettiest there are. it has a slight blue undertone, but never going into the blurple area. it is really tricky to capture it faithfully, it got too blurplish in my photos. it is well pigmented, and my only complaint is, as usual, china glaze's brush, but it's just my taste.

natural light:

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.

natural light:

essie jamaica me crazy (dive bar)

i bought essie jamaica me crazy from the awesome dive bar collection back in 2011, because we had a "favourite nail polish name" theme when we were doing "theme friday" challenge. this is my all time favourite name. then i realized that this dive bar collection is, for me, the best essie ever had. i mean, dive bar, sexy divide and trophy wife, it can't get better than that.

jamaica me crazy is not my typical color, but i have no magentas in my collection so i decided to give it a try. it turned out to be quite good. even though it is magenta, it has a purple undertone that makes it more my type, and gorgeous subtle purple shimmer.  

this is my first wide brush essie, and i'm happy with it. also, the formula was great, no bold spots, good coverage.

it's a difficult one to capture. direct sunlight washes it out, so the shade images are much more faithful.

natural light:

flormar speed limit (full color)

it is so strange that speed limit is my first flormar polish, and it was a gift. it comes from their full color range.

speed limit is a gorgeous purple-leaning blurple, which means, awesome colour, impossible to capture faithfully. i am not too much off, but still, it is a bit less blue in real life.

application was smooth and easy, it is such a pretty creme and quite a bargain. i love it and already wore it a few times.

natural light:

catrice mermayday mayday (iconails 13)

it's been a while since i picked up a bottle of catrice nail polish. they were my go-to drugstore brand, until they ruined their brush and i stopped even looking at their counter. i got mermaiday mayday from their iconails collection as a gift.

if the polishes of the iconails collection are of the similar quality as this one, than catrice definitely goes back to my good graces. mermaiday mayday is a nice shade of muted teal, but one of those impossible to capture perfectly, as its appearance also changes with the light and weather and so on.

formula is smooth and selfleveling, and quite shiny. if i wasn't so used to my fast drying top coat, it could've been easily skipped.

i am showing quite a few photos, because it really changes with the lighting.

new in and empties: 2018

overall, 2018 was a reasonable year, with 28 new polishes (13 picture polish + 6 ysl + 3 a england +2 opi + 1 cirque, flormar, catrice and wetn'n'wild), and 13 empty bottles!

opi show must go on (burlesque)

after teas-y does it, i am showing another polish from opi's holiday collection burlesque back in 2010, show must go on.

i am so sad that i had only the mini version of this polish, because it is a stunner (and, unfortunately, finished now). a magenta-burnt orange duochrome, awesome for gloomier days because you can see all the little details in it. i think it is really unique and wish i could find a dupe!

the formula was decent, especially for a mini, but i would forgive it even if it wasn't, that's how pretty it is.

overcast:

dance legend velvet mini 7

i mentioned how much i loved dance legend velvet and velvet mini (Бархат Мини) collections, and i already showed number 10, so tiday is time for number 7.

velvet mini 10 is a pearly white shade with a lot of silvery shimmer. as most of satin polishes, this one looks quite differently in shade and direct sunlight, which is why i am including both. 

the formula is a bit tricky, it is somewhat transparent so it sometimes needed three coats, depending on how thick the first two were. it was fully dried in about 20 minutes.

shade:

barry m neptune sea (magnetic effects)

after showing moon dust, it's time to present neptune sea, my other barry m polish from their magnetic effects collection.

source

i loved moon dust, but i had "problems" with neptune sea. although with it being mostly silver (as you can see from the polish on its own, without using the magnet), magnetic particles are actually blue glittery particles. it took me a lot of wears until i realized that i don't like it with the magnet that it comes with, this weird star-like pattern. i feel like it somehow difuses the effects, and you are left with the feeling that something is missing, that either magnet is not good or that the polish itself is not behaving well.

opi sanguine (go goth)

i loved opi's go goth mini collection for haloween 2010. i already showed unripened, and now it's the time for sanguine.

sanguine is one of those vampy burgundy reds, rich and with a lots of "inside shimmer". i hate when such cuties come only in mini bottles, but there were talks that mentioned that this one is basically opi's royal rajah ruby. 

i stopped getting opi minis in general, because for me, their strongest point is the brush and the one in minis annoys me, but still, i loved this collection.

direct sun:

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:

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:

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:

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:

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:

nopi listen to you mom-ager (kardashian kolors)

kardashian kolors was nicole by opi's holiday collection back in 2011. i got a couple of polishes then, but just now got to showing listen to your mom-ager.

i love this polish. it is a royal blue jelly packed with blue, almost foil-like shimmer. even though it is quite old at this point, formula is still spot on. unfortunately, it is a stainer, even though i still get surprised by that when i wear it.

i am sure there are many dupes by now, but i don't have anything like this in my stash (yet!)

overcast: