My Top 5 Summer Pedi Colors of 2010

Inspired by K2K's post, I thought I would share with you my own top 5 summer pedi colors of the 2010 summer. I wore all of these at least twice last summer.

I generally get pedis year round, but some colors just feel right when it's hot out (and some feel very wrong, like my fav pedi color - NARS Midnight Express). Here's my summer-time list:

• American Apparel Malibu Green
  

(2 coats)

You didn't think I was gonna subject you folks to my feet, did you?

Love this color, but holy crap, I wore it ONCE as a mani and will never do that again. Stain city! Very pigmented formula. Could have gotten away with one thick coat. AA has some incredible polishes.

• Zoya Charisma (Sinful Dream On, Essie Perky Purple)

(2 coats)

This photo isn't even close to color accurate. I couldn't even fix it w/ photoshop. It's like my computer is telling me this color does not exist and is merely a figment of my imagination.

No matter what, you know what it looks like. You've seen Charisma or one of her cousins. It's a great "staple" neon. I love this color so much.

• OPI Cajun Shrimp
  

(2 coats)

Probably my favorite pedi color period. I did a pedi with this 3 times last summer and a couple times as a mani. Considering how many polishes I have...

• China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy

(2 coats)

I'm fairly certain it was THE pedi color of the Summer of 2010 among NP enthusiasts.

• Milani Radiant in Purple
  

(2 coats)

Really any medium purple creme works in this space. It's a go-to for me.

I wonder what's in store for us this year...

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Milani Silver: has such potential but this mani was a mess...

...this has been the worst week. Every. single. day. someone let me down on something. Everyone was running late (if running at all!) and god... every day!

It's going to be raining all weekend during the trip to Napa with my SO and his mother. But that's not the sad part. The sad part is: because it's been so rainy... part of the Pacific Coast Highway fell into the freakin' ocean and now the romantic getaway that my SO and I had planned to Big Sur... it's no longer practical to go. :( I had been looking forward to this week for the last month. I know it's so bratty to bitch about this sort of thing given the physical and political turmoil of the past month across the world -- but gosh darn it.

Anyway. Enough bitching. Onto nails!

Milani Silver (in lightbox)

Milani Silver (with flash)

Bright silver hex glitter in clear polish and NOTHING else. It takes a lot of patience to pull this mani off effectively though: this was five coats. And I waited a couple of minutes between coats (which I never do -- and it's impossible to get a nice opaque layer of silver glitter without waiting). And then I had to shift around the pieces of glitter with a cuticle stick. And even then... I didn't do a good job:

Closeup of Silver

Argh. My eyes suck and I didn't notice how many gaping holes there were in this manicure until I saw the macro photos. :(

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Ha! Finally found the two of the Milani One-Coat (not really) Glitters I wanted: Blue Flash and Purple Gleam!

Maybe I need to start using topcoat when I swatch glitters. My glitter photos always look so gritty. :P Because the glitters are gritty.

Milani Purple Gleam

Despite how dull this manicure looks in my photos, really, this is an amazing polish. It's so sparkly! And I love the mix of purple and black glitter. Opaque in two coats.

Close up on Purple Gleam

Milani Blue Gem

I don't know how people have such good luck with the application of this one. I found it to be the hardest to apply, and after three coats, I still had bald spots. Maybe I need to apply thinner coats?

Close-up of Blue Gem

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Milani Silver Dazzle and Gold Glitz (One Coat Glitters)

These are some of the best monochromatic-but-multihued glitters ever. If you see them -- and if you're fans of glitter -- BUY THEM.

Milani Gold Glitz

OK. Calling them "One-Coat Glitters" may slightly overstate the case. But they're perfectly opaque in two coats. And I love that this is not just a single hue of gold either: it's gold and orange, which gives it such an interesting look. This has been on my toes for two weeks and nary a chip. Pretty awesome.

Close-up of Gold Glitz

Milani Silver Dazzle

This is a gorgeous combination of silver and black glitter. A little harder to apply though: you have to wait (a minimal amount of time) for one layer to dry before attempting to put on the next. You can see some cuticle drag on one or two of my fingers here.

Close-up of Silver Dazzle

Drugstore polishes are really stepping up their game in the last year or so. Or maybe I just got over my snobbishness and started paying attention to the good ones.

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Happy New Year! Milani Gems and Lippmann Happy Birthday comparison

Happy New Year! :D 2011 already. Can't believe it. Years seriously do go faster the older you get. Nothing TOO exciting this year coming up for me: a bunch of weddings (none of them mine), a lot of travel... I am starting out the new year on another continent right now, after all. I'm boarding a flight back to the US in a few hours. It's going to be about a 15 hour flight. And, amazingly, it'll still be 1/1/11 when I land even though I'm leaving Taipei at about 7:30pm local time on 1/1/11. And I'm scheduled to arrive at 2:30pm local time in the US. This is going to be the longest New Year's Day I've ever lived... and to, you know, celebrate that, here's a particularly festive, confetti-like polish:

Milani Jewel FX Gem

I had been out of the nail polish loop for about a month when this came out. I wasn't checking blogs, I wasn't on MUA, wasn't paying much attention to anything besides my work. But when I saw this on a blog, I FLIPPED OUT. Lippmann Happy Birthday is one of my favorite polishes ever and though I'm not willing to plunk down more money for a backup, I was going to run out and buy whatever dupe I could find. So I ran out to buy this... and didn't find it. And then ordered it from the Milani website. And paid shipping. Because I needed it.

So the big question is: how similar are they? Short answer: they feel the same, but they aren't the same.

Lippmann Happy Birthday and Milani Gems comparison

From left to right:

Index - HB, three coats

Middle - HB, two coats

Ring - Gems, three coats

Pinky - Gems, two coats

The first thing I noticed was that Milani Gems seems to have slightly more glitter in it so it's easier to get more of it on the nail with fewer coats. In my mind, this makes the Milani preferable to the Lippmann. But, imo, the mix of glitter is more interesting in the Lippmann. A closeup is better at showing the differences between the two at three coats each (sorry for the blurry one of Happy Birthday).

Milani Gems closeup

Lippmann Happy Birthday closeup

Color-wise, they use about the same smattering of shades: the Lippmann has silver, gold, dark blue, green, red and purple. The Milani is pretty much the same except the blue is a lighter blue. The big difference is in the shape of the glitter: all of the glitter in the Milani is hexagonal, though there are two different sizes. While the Lippmann also sports two sizes of glitter, only the large glitter is hexagonal while the small glitter is square. IMO, square glitter is almost always more interesting to me than hexagonal because it is less common than hexagonal glitter in polishes. The mix of the two types is what makes the Lippmann sort of brilliant. Too bad it doesn't apply as well as the Milani. And too bad it's several times the price of the Milani!

Here's the thing: no one is going to look too closely at your nails and notice, "Hey, those are all hexagonal in shape!" or "Hey, it's a mix of squares and hexagons!" If you don't have the Lippmann (but want it), Milani Gems is totally worth it and few people will know the difference.

OK. Now to continue on the longest New Year's Day ever. At least I'm in business class (or rather, "premium economy") the way back.

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Milani DressMaker

(3 or 4 coats, I can't remember)

This would not dry on me! Dentable until I took it off, about 24 hours later. But I got 2 compliments on the color at work. (My previous record was one for Cajun Shrimp.)

I really should have just bought the Chanel (because I've now spent more trying to dupe Jade than just buying it). (However, I wont be picking up Riva. Maybe I haven't learned my lesson. Maybe I'm not falling for consumerist tricks. Either way, I'll live.) I have Dressmaker (the closest in color), Sold Out Forever (the best formula), and Dreamcatcher (my favorite).


(1 coat: Dressmaker, Dream Catcher, Sold Out Forever)


(3 coats: Dressmaker, Dream Catcher, Sold Out Forever)

Dressmaker and Dream Catcher both have pretty bad formulas. But at least Dream Catcher dried on me. Sold Out Forever's formula is impressive considering lots of brands have trouble getting a nice two-coater out of a pastel (this didn't need the 3 coats it had in the comp photo). However, its shimmer is definitely the most subtle.


(P.S. It's my bday!)

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Purple Jelly Comparison

Hi guys!  I have a small comparison for you today.  A reader asked how these two polishes compare when I posted my swatch picture of Deborah Lippmann Call Me Irresponsible so I figured I do a formal comparison.  I don't have a bottle comparison picture since the Milani is in an opaque bottle.  First up, I'll repost the swatch pictures of each.

I think this is four coats of Milani Rad Purple.

And here's a picture of four coats of Deborah Lippmann Call Me Irresponsible.

Now on to the comparison.  I've got Call Me Irresponsible on my index and ring nails.   Rad Purple is on my middle and pinkie finger nails.  I used four coats of each and this picture was taken in the sun.

This picture was taken inside by a window.  This one is the most color accurate of all my photos.  I think it's funny how the Deborah Lippmann comes closer to the Milani bottle than the Milani does.

And this picture was taken with the flash.  It's not very color accurate, but that's how it sometimes goes with purples.

Rad Purple is brighter and redder than Call Me Irresponsible (which is bluer). Rad Purple also dries to a satin finish so I put top coat on it. Call Me Irresponsible dries shiny.  Formula-wise, the Milani behaved better for me.  I had a heck of a time trying to get the Deborah Lippmann even, but the Milani wasn't so bad.  They are both jelly finishes.

It seemed like such a shame to just wipe these off after taking pictures so I tried out some layering.  I pulled out Pure Ice Heart Breaker and Nfu-Oh #51 and added on coat of Heart Breaker to my index and middle nails.  Then I put one coat of the Nfu-Oh on my ring and pinkie fingers.  Gah!  This was so gorgeous.  I'll have to do a full manicure of Call Me Irresponsible with the Nfu-Oh on top very soon.

I hope you enjoyed!

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Milani Juicy Glo

I think jelly polishes are my favorite type of polishes.  I love that they have that squishy look to them.  I don't even mind having a little bit of visible nail line when I use a jelly polish.  So when I saw Milani Juicy Glo at CVS recently, I knew I had to have it.  I immediately put it on when I got home and fell in love.  But when I realized that it was never going to DRY, I took it off in disgust and tossed it into my Helmer with a frown.

I did end up swatching it for you, though.  It's absolutely gorgeous and if I could sit around and avoid using my hands I'd wear it for more than an hour.  I used four coats and the formula was pretty nice, but after waiting an hour for it to dry and realizing it was still wet enough to slide off my nails, I knew it wouldn't end well.  I even tried layering two coats over silver and it wouldn't dry that way, either.

It's even more gorgeous in the sun.

I decided that I wanted to see what it looked like with some flakies and glitters on top so I dug through my Helmer drawers for some fun things to put on top.  Here are the polishes I chose:

I applied one coat of each (except for two coats of the Cover Girl) in the same order as above, from pinkie to index finger.  By the way, I ordered Pink Chloe from Cherry Culture, the Cover Girl is super old and I bought it about seven years ago, the Nfu-Oh came from FabulouStreet.com and I got UFO at Walgreens.

I love how these look in the shade.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!  Oh, and if you could recommend a relatively easy to find orange jelly polish for me, that would be great.  I love this look, but since it won't dry it's not going to work.

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NYC Flat Iron Green vs Milani One of a Kind

I have seriously been on a buy every dark green kick this whole summer! Don't know what has gotten into me, but I just have to buy every dark green I see. I was at CVS the other day and HAD to buy these two even though 1) they both look almost black 2) they really aren't anything special. I'm crazy, right? haha I think posting this entry will only prove that to be a fact even more.

Flat Iron Green is one of the new permanent NYC colors, and One of a Kind is part of the same display that Milani has Dressmaker in.

And even more proof...

L-R: One of a Kind, Flat Iron Green, One of a Kind, Flat Iron Green

That's not shimmer on my ring finger... I don't know what that is, looks like a smudge. They are pretty much identical. Both are super dark green cremes that look almost black, all the time. The only differences are in application and formula. One of a Kind took three coats to become opaque and not streaky, while Flat Iron Green only two coats. One of a Kind had a slightly more jelly like formula which probably why it took one more coat to get even. If you want to try one of these, I would definitely reccomend Flat Iron because it is cheaper, only $1.99 where as Milani is $4.49, is permanent, and application was easier! ALSO, these two remind me a lot of Sephora by OPI Dark Room that I also have.... And you know what makes me even crazier?? I absolutely HATE polishes that look black when they aren't black.......... hahaha I think I'm just on a hunt for a really nice super dark green creme that doesn't look black all the time.

Does anyone else have nail polish phases like I currently do?

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NOTDs from the previous two days: Milani Bare to Wear and Incoco Oscar Night

My cuticles are still a bit travel-ravaged even though I've been treating them with Mango Mend every few hours since getting home. Sigh, traveling does do quite the number on my body. I'm still dead exhausted.

Milani Bare to Wear

This is supposedly somewhat close to Lippmann Waking Up in Vegas but I don't have that polish. This is a very greyed-out light taupe that can pull lilac in some lights. Very pretty, understated color and it only required three coats to be opaque but it took forever to dry (with Gelous and Diamont, which is usually a very quick drying combo on me). See that big chink on my pinky? Got that several hours after I applied the mani. Grr. Didn't notice it until I took the photo. Double grr.

Incoco Oscar Please

Satiny champagne shimmer made up of darker and lighter gold. Incoco sent me this for review and their review samples don't seem to have names. Either that or I can't find them. Judging by the swatches on their website, I think this is most likely to be Oscar Night. This is not the neatest or nicest Incoco mani and I'll tell you why: I did this on the plane in fifteen minutes during turbulence!

I didn't have a nail file or anything to trim down some off the less-well-fitting pieces but luckily, most of the pieces fit me alright. Because I lacked a file and just had to tear off the extra length at the end, some of the pieces ended up a bit too short for me but generally, I thought it looked okay, if a bit worn for just one day.

I peeled off -- yes, gross, I know -- my Paradoxal mani before applying it. Paradoxal lasted for four days without chips and then on the fifth and last day of the conference, a few small chips started coming off while I was on the plane. Being bored and nervous on a plane, I started picking the entire manicure off. And because my nails were stained from previous manis -- though not the Paradoxal mani -- I decided to try out the Incoco nail appliques I had been carrying in my carry-on for such an "emergency". (The emergency was that I was vain and bored.)

The flight attendant saw me putting on the Incoco nail appliques and asked me incredulously whether they actually work. I was happy to report to her her, yes, they do. :)

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