My so-called "dud" - OPI My Private Jet

This is the newest version of My Private Jet - the one no one really likes...but I do! It has mild scattered holo glitter with an amber flash...

This is perfect for when I'm in the mood for something a little special and sparkly! Still neutral enough for me to be completely comfortable as well.

I know that by saying this some sort of polish-fan-god is going to come down and smite me, but....you know...I really think that if OPI had released this as a different polish with different name (NOT My Private Jet) that people would really like it! Instead now it's just viewed as a 'dud'. And I think that's just a crying shame.

Do you have a 'dud' that you think is a hidden gem?

kittytokaren

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Two Revlon Top Speed polishes: Cloud and Electric

The funny thing about photos is that sometimes, the great polishes turn out looking kinda crappy... and the totally crappy polishes come out looking great.

Revlon Electric

Lemon yellow shimmer. The photo actually makes it look like it was a nice polish. Do not be deceived! It was not that much worse than the typical yellow shimmer (streaky, sheerish, hard to build) but I've tried enough yellow polishes to know that it's possible to have a good yellow that is perfect in two coats, three at most. This was four: it was a hot mess on my nails and I thought that maybe if I put on more layers, it would look better. That was not true.

Revlon Cloud

It's not quite as much of a baby blue as the photos make it out to be; it's more of a light lavender. This one applied beautifully... but it apparently needed a third coat. (I did this swatch in the demi-gloom of my apartment. I should maybe try turning on lights next time.) The above photos are just two coats. But even though there's a bit of patchiness, I think that it's obvious that it's pretty nice for a two coats of a pastel.

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Essie Pound Cake

I've been shopping my stash a lot lately. I haven't felt the urge to pick up anything from any new collections and I definitely haven't caught crackle fever!

Worse still, I'm not changing my mani as frequently. I think this all has to do with winter. The dark gloominess is getting me down. Plus my apartment is SO DRY. I have a dinky little humidifier that isn't helping ("The humidifier...she does nothing!!!").

My father is from Jamaica and while I was born in Canada and I don't mind the cold, it's painfully clear my body does. My skin is so dry; it cracks, tears and gets so itchy. My nails are no different. They peel like madness and so I have to keep my nails super super short. (Yes I am moisturizing like crazy, don't even start with me!)

Because of that I've been gravitating towards the nudes in my collex. (I have both long and pudgy fingers; I find dark colors on my super, super short nails make my fingers look like kielbasas).

Anyway, my nails have grown out a bit from their shortest so I am feeling confident enough to show you a new favorite of mine.





I LOVE this color. I'd call this a very pale pink with a splash of beige rather than a straight up nude or even a pinky-beige. It's a beigey-pink, ya'll!!

The is one of those old school black labels and the formula went on opaque in two coats.

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First mani with Clarins 230 (over Orly Total Darkness)

Aaaack. Lightboxes just don't do justice to this polish. Yes, totally overpriced... and yet, totally, utterly, completely worth it.

Clarins 230 over Orly Total Darkness

Orly Total Darkness is an old Orly in one of those 0.75fl oz bottles (they were huge): it's this vampy, plummy, slightly taupe-leaning jelly. Totally hot color. It applied perfectly and looked super duper glossy. (The fumes almost knocked me over though when I opened it. It had probably been more than a decade since that thing was last opened. If ever.)

Anyway, as we've seen with the numerous 230 swatches elsewhere, the most prominent shimmer color that jumps out at you is related to the base you wear it on: in this case, wearing it on a reddish-purple vampy tends to bring out more of its tendencies towards red and orange. Kind of ordinary in these moments but still very twinkly. But then, you catch the green flash, and it's utterly magical.

Trying to coax out the green duochrome glitter. It's not usually this shy (actually, IRL, you see it a lot, especially in low light situations) but it doesn't like the camera!

Ah ha! There's that green!

And now, some obligatory bottle pics:

So pretty. :)

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J. Crew FTW - Essie Milky Way

I am such an Essie fanatic - I will go wherever, whenever I have to for new Essies! And a neutral creme?! I'm there. I caught wind of Essie Milky Way in some strange corner of the internet that I can't quite recall - a blog post, a tweet, a random image? Either way, I knew I had to have it!

So off to J. Crew I went - because this puppy is a J. Crew exclusive! J. Crew has sold Essie polishes for a while now, but they've always been pre-existing colours. The lovely people at J. Crew would pick a few to coordinate with their current collection - they even had mini packs of their 4 picks! But now the collaboration seems to have gone ever further, and J. Crew has two exclusive colours out for the first time ever - Peepshow (a bright coral - reminds me of One of a Kind or Cute as a Button maybe?) and Milky Way (my new favourite). See them on their site here.

Milky Way...

A quick shot from the lab...

And I thought you might be interested in the label!

I've completely fallen for this gorgeous camel colour. I wasn't sure about it initially, but it totally grew on me and now I'm head-over-heels. I wore it for 5 days and it wore just as well as my HG polish for wear, Essie Mink Muffs. Like non-stick coating on a pan! I really can't tell you how much I loved wearing this. I was sad to take it off after 5 days! It felt so chic. It reminded me of toffee and my mother's camel coat and went beautifully with everything I wore. Needless to say, I highly recommend you check it out!

It reminds me of OPI San Tan-tonio, but I don't have that to compare. The OPI seems a bit yellower?

Will you be checking out the J Crew exclusives? I'm going to have my eyes peeled for their next seasons offerings!

kittytokaren

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