chanel azure (l’eté papillon de chanel)

i guess it can be said that blues from chanel's summer collection l’eté papillon de chanel, bel argus and azure, were THE most talked about polishes of 2013. after bel argus, the star of today's post is azure.

we all know by now that i'm a huge fan of blues in all the shades and finishes possible. i loved this duo ever since i saw the promo pictures and knew i could buy them blindly, but somehow thought that, after piling up one blue polish after another, they will not leave me breathless. boy, how was i wrong!

azure is a turquoise duochrome perfection, a true peacock shade. it screams summer, beach and waves. duochrome effect isn't insanely strong, but just enough for me to keep glancing at my nails at different angles. since it is metallic, there are some brushstrokes, but nothing too bad.

natural light:

dior galaxie (mystic metallics)

dior's 2013 autumn collection consisted out of two "mystic metallics" polishes, destin (not my cup of tea) and today's star, galaxie; together with their first attempt at magnetic polishes, mystic magnetic.

galaxie is the perfect polish for cold, winter days that are quickly approaching. it reminds me of cosy winter nights, spent indoors with friends,  mulled wine and smoke. ah, i miss the days of indoor gatherings.!

the colour is so rich, burgundy-ish plum, with gorgeous dense shimmer that makes the polish borderline metallic. application, consistency and brush are just as i like it, so nothing to complain about there.

china glaze stone cold (capitol colors)

it's time for some stone cold classics, so today i am showing china glaze's stone cold from the capitol colors collection for the spring 2012.

capitol colors was intended to be a spring collection, but i somehow picked up the more autumn looking shades (see gorgeous agro). it may be weird, but i see this polish as super elegant. i wore it to a couple of weddings, actually. maybe it's because of the matte finish, maybe because i see all shades of grey as elegant, even when they are asphalt-like.

the formula got a bit thicker over the years, as it happens with matte shades, so it is a one coater. 

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.

picture polish fresh (collaboration)

well well, we are approaching the end of summer (if  we can even call it summer in 2020), so i had to go with something.. fresh! so here it is, picture polish collaboration shade fresh, from 2018.

god, this polish is pretty. it is a bright lime green, not super blinding, but just the right amount of neon. 

there are some holographic flakies visible in the bottle, but are definitely drowned on nails. if nothing, they are helping the formula, because it is flowing nicely, like it's not a neon, crelly polish.

natural light:

chanel taboo (revelation of chanel)

 it's time for one of the most unique and beautiful polishes i own, chanel taboo from their revelation de chanel collection.

where to start in describing this beauty? the color is quite complex. the base is deep, dark cool purple with the shimmery fleck in silver, blue and burgundy color, giving it a bit of a galactic look. in the bottle it looks much more red that on nails

i'm pretty convinced that this polish looks good on both cool and warm-toned skin. and under different lighting, different tones of it can be dominant. good thing is, that it is never almost black and the shimmer is nicely visible indoors. it really is gorgeous, vampy, mysterious but also elegant at the same time!

formula is also great and easy to work with. it is a bit thicker than your usual chanel polish, but it flows smoothly and is almost a one coater. 

natural light:

dance legend tetraodon (caviar)

dance legend quickly became one of my favourite brands. today i'm showing tetraodon from the caviar collection. it is fish inspired, and a little bit down, you can see the actual  tetraodon.

source

this collection is really cute. the idea is the same; a saturated jelly base, in this case, medium green, with the same black hexagonal and white square micro glitter.

it looks really interesting in real life. even though it is glittery, it doesn't eat up the top coat. it looks really cute and i ended picking up another one from the collection.

natural light:

opi warm and fozzie (the muppets holiday)

lately, i am getting this complete sense of shock when i realize how old some collections are. the next in line to surprise me is warm and fozzie, from opi's the muppets holiday collection from 2011. 

warm and fozzie is described as "a feel-good shade of metallic copper." not sure how accurately my camera picked up the duochrome effect, but it is subtle anyhow. glitter is predominantly coppery, but there is some rose gold as well. in bottle, one can pick up on green as well, but it doesn't translate to the nails. the formula is a bit patchy, but it builds up nicely with two coats.

 the finish is not gritty, but it's also not really glossy as well.

china glaze outta bounds (ski)

today's choice, china glaze's outta bounds, took me by surprise, when i learned it was released waaaay back in 2007, in the winter collection called ski.

this entire collection, of which i own only frostbite and outta bounds, has this, as they described it, "high luster pearl" finish. outta bounds is an emerald green shade, with metallic, shimmery finish.

the formula is tricky, but it is something to be expected from these sorts of polishes. it is both runny and thick at the same time, quite streaky, but still, i love the end result so i don't really see this as a huge problem.

natural light:

zoya liberty (pixie dust)

it's time for another zoya pixie dust polish, this time, gorgeous liberty from the summer collection. you could already see  beatrix.

zoya describes it as a "blue sugary sparkle", which it really is! the shade is medium blue, just perfect, with silvery shimmer and the gorgeous textured finish. i would be really sorry if i missed it, because it really looks amazing. true pixie dust, if you ask me! 

i compared the newest photos with the ones made back in 2013, and, as expected, the texture factor became more flat. this is a known thing with textures, and i am showing old pictures first, followed by the recents.

old: