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.

natural light:

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!

natural light:

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.

natural light:

new in and empties: 2022

well, this was a strange year. after an unplanned no-buy in 2021, i actually bought three polishes in 2022.  all of them are catrice, and with some months apart. i really like this new iconails line. 

on the other hand, even though i got a lot of bottles near finish, only one can actually be called empty, and that is zoya-tosca. this probably means that there will be a lot of empties during this year.

new in:

catrice aqua mani-cure

catrice believe in jade

catrice get slimed

empries:

zoya tosca

opi jinx (bond girls)

opi's summer of 2014 bond girls collection consisted only of liquid sand polishes. i got three, and  after honey ryder and solitaire, i am showing jinx.

opi's description: " this mesmerizing matte coral has lucky sparkle. " when i was watching promo pictures, and then swatches from other bloggers, jinx became my surprising favorite. i'm repeating myself, but corals, peaches and similar shades were never my cup of tea, but jinx somehow mesmerised me!

when i got it, somehow it looked too intense, too flashy, too...much. but then, i finally had it on my nails and it was complete love. this bright orangy coral with golden shimmer practically screams summer! it looks amazing, dries quickly and you can remove it regularly like any other polish. i caught myself often staring at my nails.

natural light:

dior waterlilly (garden party)

star of the day is dior's waterlilly, from the garden party collection for spring 2011.

when this collection came out, i still wasn't into high end nail polishes, but i quickly realized i really wanted this one. luckily,  i managed to find one lonely bottle!

it is more pastel and minty than my typically favourite green shades, but this is what makes it unique in my overwhelmingly green stash. the microshimmer is gorgeous and denser than usually, making it almost iridescent. i really love this one, it so springy and fun!

natural light:

picture polish sun flower (collaboration shade)

with the last glimpses of sun before the gloom and doom start, it is time for something fun, and sun flower for sure is fun. it was made by picture polish with collaboration with russian blogger de briz.

sun flower was released in spring 2016 together with salt water, and they are really a good couple since they have the same holo flakey particles. these are one of my favourite effects in a nail polish.

the shade itself is a strange shade of yellow, really sunflower-like. it also dries more dark than in the bottle. the formula is more crelly than creme, and it looks gorgeous. i know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but it sure is mine!

natural light:

ysl piment d'ailleurs (spicy)

it's time for yet another ysl perfection, this time it is piment d'ailleurs from the spicy collection from spring 2014.

i might be growing up. not that long ago, i might not even consider wearing a colour like this, and now i'm in love. i think it really looks classy. i'm not much of an expert in red polishes, but i would call this a crimson red. perfect, buttery creme, just the type ysl spoiled me on.

natural light: