China Glaze Cabin Fever

This polish is magical. I can see why it took three different sightings of the CG Great Outdoors display for me to actually find this color! It's a gorgeous color-shifting shade that morphs from rusty red to bronze to green to gold. It changes to all the different colors of autumn leaves!

Natural light:

 Shade:

 Direct sunlight:

As with most duochromes, you have to conscientiously place your brushstrokes, but other than that, Cabin Fever is easy to apply. This is two coats.

I have to take my hats off to China Glaze on this one. The color shift is super strong and I love that you get so many beautiful fall colors in one polish. It takes on completely different personalities with each lighting change. If you ask me, it's not only the best polish of the Great Outdoors Collection, but the best duochrome polish from a mainstream brand in a long time. Like, remember the awesome that was the China Glaze's own New Bohemian Collection? Cabin Fever is just as good as those! Hey CG: more of this, please! :)

Twinsie Tuesday: Ruby Wing Cinnamon Buns

Hey all, sorry I haven't been around for a couple days. I have been crazy busy over the past few days (I'm supposed to be on vacation, ironically enough) and I just haven't had the time to paint my nails. However, I have advantaged that opportunity to test out the new long-wearing OPI Infinite Shine system, so I'm excited to share my thoughts about that with you all--hopefully very soon!

As for TT today, I wanted to at least have something for to show, even if it's a re-post. But it's from a while ago, so I hope you all will forgive me! Our theme this week was scented polish and my pick from the archives, Ruby Wing Cinnamon Buns, is not only a scented polish but a color-changing one too! Cinnamon Buns is one of my favorite Ruby Wing's. I have to admit I'm not a huge fan of scented polish (strong fragrances give me headaches), but the cinnamon and vanilla scent on this one is not too overpowering.

Indoors and in low light, Cinnamon Buns is a beautiful bronze with rose and gold duochrome.

Then in direct sunlight, Cinnamon Buns becomes a deep gunmetal shade with hits of burgundy shimmer--super pretty!

I apologize again for the re-post. I should be back in proper swatching action soon!

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Lisa at The Polish Playground

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Kristine at Pink and Polished Nails

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amanda at Amandalandish

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Disclosure: This polish was sent for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

China Glaze Choo-Choo Choose You

I really hope the name for this polish was an intentional Simpson's reference on China Glaze's part, because to have such an awesome polish as an homage to my favorite Simpsons character, Ralph Wiggum, would truly be icing on the cake.

I don't think China Glaze has ever made a polish quite like Choo-Choo Choose You. To me, this is hands-down the star of their fall collection, All Aboard. It's a difficult polish to describe, but I guess if I had to try and sum it up, I'd say it's a deep, smoky taupe base with dense, color-shifting shimmer that changes from gold to green. The shimmer is truly breathtaking and it's what really makes this polish something special.

I had a hard time capturing the shift on camera; the green comes out in low light, making it tough to get a decent photo of it. I put up one quick snap I was able to manage, but I'm going to try and get some more later today, so I'll update if I get some better pics of it!

 

 

*drool* Isn't she gorgeous?! China Glaze really outdid themselves with this one. The shimmer is so stunning and it's such a unique color. This definitely falls into the category of what I like to call "car crash polishes"--y'know, the ones where the shimmer is so distractingly mesmerizing that whenever the light hits it, your eyes are instantly drawn to it, no matter what you're doing at the moment! So wear with caution, ladies. ;)

The formula is touch thin, but nothing too bad. I used three coats here.

If you get only one polish from All Aboard, make it Choo-Choo Choose You. The shimmer is unlike anything I've seen before in a mainstream polish and the base is a deliciously rich and creamy taupe that's so perfect for fall.

Twinsie Tuesday: Chanel Peridot

I'm alive!! Sorry I was gone for a few days. I've had a lot on my plate lately, so I haven't had as much time and energy for blogging as I would like. But I'm back in time for this week's Twinsie Tuesday, where we're showing the true depths of our polish addictions by sharing our biggest splurge. Mine was pretty easy to remember: Chanel Peridot!

I bought this beauty back in college, when I worked at Neiman Marcus, so I was able to use my employee discount to knock a few bucks off, but it's still the priciest polish in my stash. It also happens to be my favorite polish ever, so it was totally worth it! There are multiple dupes of Peridot now but when it first came out, its pairing of rich gold with a green and teal duochrome was very unique. Even though it's since been duplicated by other brands, Peridot is still a total stunner!

Peridot applies just as wonderfully as she looks. You do have to be a little careful with brushstrokes, but there's nothing out of the norm for a metallic polish. I used three coats here.

This is a polish that will always hold a very special place in my heart. It's a drop-dead gorgeous shade and the only Chanel polish in my collection. I hope you enjoy looking at Peridot as much as I do! :)

​

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace
Anna at Going to the Showing
Bridget at A Painted Nail

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

​Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision​

Dermelect Gilded

Ever wonder what would happen if someone took Chanel Peridot (aka possibly my favorite polish ever) and turned it into an awesome metallic textured polish? Well then I gotta introduce you to Dermelect Gilded! This rich gold from Dermelect's new Bejeweled Collection has the teal color shift of a duochrome, the gleaming metallic finish of a foil and the finish of a texture. Basically, there's a lotta stuff going on here and it's all awesome!

This was my first time trying one of Dermelect's polishes and I was very impressed not only by how beautiful Gilded itself is, but by the excellent formula too. It applied very smoothly and covered in three coats.

I'm surprised we don't see more metallic textures; I like them a lot! Gilded is not only a great textured polish, but also a perfect fall metallic. As I mentioned above, there's a lot of different elements to this polish, yet they all work marvelously together!

You can purchase Dermelect from their website. Also, a quick note that they are currently hosting a fun contest through their Instagram account (@dermelect) where if you post a picture of your favorite Dermelect mani with your favorite piece of jewelery, you could win all four polishes from the Bejeweled Collection! Stay tuned for more photos of the Bejeweled beauties in the days to come... ;)


Disclosure: This polish was sent to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Twinsie Tuesday: East Coast Vs. West Coast

With Twinsie Tuesday, we have bloggers not only across the country, but all over the world! So we're having some fun with that this week by squaring off with an East Coast vs. West Coast swatch-off! Our west coast bloggers will show their favorite shimmer, while the east coast bloggers will wear their favorite glitters. I'm from the Midwest--Michigan, to be precise--so I'm kinda in between. We decided that our Midwest bloggers would fall in with the west coast crew, so I'll be Team Shimmer today!

After some debating, I decided that OPI Movin' Out deserves the "favorite shimmer" title, for a couple of reasons. First of all, this polish is full of multichrome, color-shifting, amazeballs awesomeness. It has a sheer, rose-tinted base that shifts from green to gold, plus these incredible red sparks that practically sizzle in the light. This is the kind of polish you just don't see made anymore now that everything is 3-free. Those nasty chemicals sure did make for some kickass polishes!

This is two coats of Movin' Out over OPI You Don't Know Jacques, a dark taupe. (I've also swatched it over black before, which you can check out HERE.)

The other reason this polish is special to me is because it was a birthday gift from my boyfriend! I've spoken before on here about our shared love of Billy Joel, so this polish, named for a Billy Joel song as well as the Broadway musical that features his music, was the perfect gift between two huge dorks in love.

So there you have it: my favorite shimmer! What's yours?

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Heather at Peace, Love, & Polish

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Meredith at Polish and Charms

Rachel at Top Coat It

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Traci at DrinkCitra

OPI Peace & Love & OPI

Peace & Love & OPI is one of two polishes I snagged from OPI's San Francisco Collection. (You can read my thoughts on the other, Alcatraz...Rocks, HERE.) Peace & Love & OPI is a beautiful duochrome that shifts from a burgundy-type shade to teal. The duochrome is nice and intense; no having to tilt your nails to weird angles just to see the shift.

The formula is decent, although maybe a little on the brushstroke-y side. I used three coats here. From photos I've seen, Peace & Love & OPI seems to be a spot-on dupe for Essie For The Twill Of It, so you likely will not need one if you already have the other.

To me, this is one of the standout shades from the San Francisco Collection. I love how strong the duochrome is and how you can see both the purple and the teal at the same time. I found the San Francisco Collection on the whole to be a little disappointing but Peace & Love & OPI is an absolute winner.

Ruby Wing Cinnamon Buns

I've got a beautiful, color-changing metallic shade to show you today from Ruby Wing called Cinnamon Buns! Indoors and in shade, Cinnamon Buns is a shimmering, rose-tinted shade of bronze with a gleaming yellow gold duochrome. The duochrome on this polish is very strong, which I love! There is a light cinnamon sugar scent to this polish--not too overpowering, but enough to be noticeable when your hands are near your face. I wore this manicure for several days without topcoat and found the scent faded after about a day.

The color shift on this polish is pretty dramatic. In direct sunlight, it transforms into a deep gunmetal shade with pops burgundy shimmer. Gorgeous!

Both colors are stunning, but unfortunately, there's some room for improvement with the formula. It went on pretty goopy and even with extra time between coats, it would start to glob together as I tried to apply the next layer. I recommend applying thin coats with some added downtime between layers. Ruby Wing's polishes will change colors even when worn with topcoat. Without topcoat, the shift is pretty instantaneous as soon as you hit sunlight, while with topcoat is still quick but takes a little bit longer.

Although the formula needed a little work, both shades of this polish are still absolutely stunning. I'm really impressed with how dramatically different the indoor and outdoor versions are! Which one do you like best?

Disclosure: This polish was sent to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

OPI La Boheme

There are some polishes that you put on your wishlist, knowing full well that you'll probably never own them. That's what I thought about OPI La Boheme. This legendary color-shifting deep red was originally released as part of the Holiday on Broadway Collection, which saw the debut of some of OPI's most sought-after polishes, like Movin' Out and SRO (Standing Room Only).

But I recently acquired the mythical La Boheme in a swap (Thanks Adelina!) and good gracious...they just don't make 'em like this anymore! Needless to say, she was totally worth the wait. :)

The beauty of La Boheme is complex and difficult to capture on camera, but trust me when I see this is one of, if not the prettiest red in my whole stash. Look at that rich base color and how alive the shimmer is! The base shifts from a deep burgundy to an orange-red. Sometimes there's a little hint of brown and green in there too. While the color shift is positively gorgeous, I think my favorite thing about this polish is how intense the shimmer is. It doesn't just sparkle, it absolutely glows!

I used two coats here. This is an old school OPI so the formula has some drag to it, but honestly, I couldn't care less when the end result is this mind-blowingly beautiful! Love, love, love this polish! If you ever get the chance to swap for it or buy it at a non-scalper price, don't hesitate!

Twinsie Tuesday: Rimmel Zeitgeist

This week's Twinsie Tuesday theme is oldest polish. I started buying polish casually in high school, but somewhere along the line I threw a lot of my old bottles away, because 1) I was dumb and thought nail polish "went bad" after a few years and 2) I didn't collect polish at the time. But a few bottles survived the purges and are still in my stash today.

For me, it was a toss-up between Rimmel Zeitgeist and an old metallic Covergirl polish I have called Perfect Penny. I honestly can't remember which one I got first, but I have a hunch it's Zeitgeist, plus I like that one better anyways.

Zeitgeist is like an oil slick in a bottle. It's a deep purple with gold and green duochrome. This was my favorite polish back in high school and I wore it all the time. I guess it's the polish that made me fall in love with duochrome, even if I didn't know what that was then.

Please excuse the iPhone pics; my camera's battery was dead. Anyways, Zeitgeist comes from Rimmel's old Vinyl Shine line, which they claim dries in 60 seconds. I'd say that's actually pretty accurate. It dries super fast and is almost a one-coater, but I used two to cover up any stray patches. Zeitgeist is definitely one of the coolest drugstore polishes in my collection and I still love it today.

Sadly, Rimmel doesn't make Zeitgeist anymore, so my bottle has become pretty precious to me. It's an awesome polish and one that has a lot of personal nostalgia attached to it. If you can find it online somewhere, I suggest checking Zeitgeist out.

I'm very excited to see what everyone else's oldest polishes are! What's the oldest polish in YOUR stash?

Amanda at Amandalandish
Anna at Going to the Showing
Anne at Grape Fizz Nails
Ashley at Art Evolve
Brandi at The Collegiate Nail
ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi
Cordia at Seriously Swatched
Elizabeth at Did My Nails
Jenn at All That Is Gorgeous
Jenna at I'm Still Thinking...
Katherine at Haul of Fame
Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite!
Marisa at Polish Obsession
Meredith at Polish and Charms
Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails
Rachel at Top Coat It
Sarah at See Sarah Swatch
Tara at Polishy of Truth

Elle Dancing Queen

I was excited to try Elle Dancing Queen when I saw it in the bottle. I literally ooh'd and ahh'd over the flash of teal duochrome pulsing through its silver base. But once I got Dancing Queen on my nails, this turned out to be a very short-lived love affair.

Inside, it looks like a plain ol' frosty metallic silver. It's brushstroke-y and looks pretty blah.

Outdoors, you can see a subtle teal and pink duochrome, like a diluted, frostier version of OPI Not Like The Movies. Granted, it's more noticeable than the hint my camera picked up, but it's still not super strong.

The formula on this polish is okay. It's on the brushstroke-y side, as I mentioned, and covers in three coats. It's not too runny or too thick, but you do have to be mindful of where you place your brush. The brushstrokes are less noticeable in outdoor lighting, but are easily visible indoors.

Overall, I'm pretty "meh" on Dancing Queen. It looks really cool in the bottle, but falls flat on the nail. The teal duochrome is pretty but I wish it was more prominent. It doesn't show up at all indoors and outdoors, it's more subtle than your average duochrome polish. So most of the time, it just looks like a frosty silver, which I can't honestly say I'm a fan of.


Disclosure: This polish was sent to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

OPI Movin' Out

One of my longtime lemmings is OPI Movin' Out. Movin' Out is a fairly HTF multichrome polish that was part of the 2003 Holiday on Broadway Collection and was named for the Billy Joel musical. My boyfriend and I are both huge Billy Joel fans and he surprised me with this polish. Sweet, right? :) Check this baby out!

You can tell by the formula (and the multichromatic amazingness) that Movin' Out definitely comes from OPI's pre-three-free era. It's got a thinner, lighter texture to it than your modern-day OPI polishes do. Movin' Out is quite sheer on its own, so this is three coats over Rimmel Black Satin. You could use fewer coats if you like and still get that gorgeous shimmering color shift, but I wanted to really amp up the base color as much as possible by using extra coats.

There are a ton of colors in Movin' Out: mauve, gold, green, blue, pink, red...plus a glistening iridescent shimmer that is positively to die for! They just don't make 'em like this anymore. It seems that now that most brands are three-free (which I totally understand), we don't see these crazy color-shifting polishes. Luckily we still have vintage gems like Movin' Out around!

Butter London Scuppered

Fall is definitely my least favorite season (mostly because of the yucky weather we get here during fall), but I do love a good fall polish! The one I have for you today, Butter London Scuppered, is practically autumn in a bottle. Scuppered is a rich copper with yellow and pink duochrome and flecks of green glitter. I love how complex it is!

I used three coats for this mani. Scuppered applies smoothly and wears well--no chips or tipwear after almost three days.

Scuppered really is quite unique, partly because of those little green flecks. I'd say maybe the closest thing I can think of to the base color is OPI Warm and Fozzie, but the green gives this polish a bit of extra dimension. It reminds me of crunchy autumn leaves!

What are some of your favorite fall polishes?

MAC Bad Fairy

Have you ever had a lemming for so long that you A) can't remember when you first started wanting it and B) pretty much give up all hope of ever owning it without paying an arm and leg for it? Well, that was the story of me and MAC Bad Fairy. Luckily I had a polish angel, my friend Sam, who cut me a great deal since she was looking for a new home for her bottle! Thank you, Sam!!

If you, unlike me, have not stared lustily at swatches of Bad Fairy before, then allow me to introduce you: Bad Fairy is a shimmering metallic red with gold duochrome. It originally came out as part of MAC's Disney Villians Collection but nowadays, more or less the only place you can find this legendarily HTF polish is to throw yourselves to the wolves and pay a jacked up price for it on Ebay. I own a ton of MAC make-up but this is actually my first MAC polish ever! Not bad for a first try, am I right? ;)

The gold duochrome is soooo gorgeous! I love how prominent it is and I could watch it flash and change in the light all day. I used three coats for this mani and had no problems with application. Longevity, however, left a bit to be desired. I had chipping and visible tip wear within 24 hours. I did some touch-up though and wore this mani for three days total, because it's so gorgeous!

I'm surprised this isn't one of those polishes like Chanel Peridot where every brand seems to have its own version of it or that MAC hasn't brought it back. There's certainly a collector's market for it. But if you can get your hands on Bad Fairy without paying an arm and a leg for it, do it! It truly is a stunning polish and I can definitely see why there is so much hype surrounding it.