Summer Color

This summer has been one of experimentation with color for me. Hot pinks have been my signature look since high school. I've worn reds and purples and corals and lots of white and lavender shimmers pretty regularly, but that's about as far as I've gotten. Last summer, I picked up some blackened purples and an almost black...and I loved them. Since then, my mission has been to further expand horizons.

Here are some of the fun colors I've worn over the last few weeks.

Essie's "Chinchilly"

"Chinchilly"

 

"Chinchilly"

 Essie's "Chinchilly" is a great grey color. The application is a breeze. Two coats are all you need and it has a nice gloss before the top coat. I added flower decals from Cina Nail Creations (Lacy Love is the name of this set.) for a little something extra. Sadly, this color is impossible to capture with my camera, but the blurry picture on the bottom is the closest to real life.

Essie's "Meet Me At Sunset"

"Meet Me At Sunset" Pedi

I love, love, LOVE this orange. Like Chinchilly, the formula is great. Two coats, nice and shiny, etc. I added the red flower with Art Club Nail Art Lacquer in the creatively named "Red," and a yellow rhinestone in the center. In case you can't tell, I dig flowers, especially in the summer. Also, please ignore the wounds on my foot. I have a playful cat who thinks he's a big, scary hunter and he sometimes forgets his teeth hurt.

Zoya's "Rica" from the Sunshine Collection

"Rica"

Rica was every bit as great for application as both of the Essie polishes and "Caitlin" from my previous post. I normally gravitate to creme finishes and the occasional light shimmer or glitter, but Zoya is giving me reason to make exceptions. The Sunshine Collection is very sparkly, but still gives a smooth finish and isn't hard to remove like a lot of glittery polish. I did find it worked better to remove the polish and then wash dishes or take a bath to soak off the remaining traces of glitter. One layer of top coat is all you need for extra sparkle. The pictures really don't do it justice.

Zoya's "Ivanka" from the Sparkle Collection

"Ivanka"

 I won't bother repeating praise of the formula, because it goes on pretty much like "Rica," but with a little more glitter. The bottom picture was an attempt at showing the sparkle, but it mostly made my skin look uber-white. This was a huge departure from my usual pinks and purples, but I do like the result.

"Rica" and "Ivanka"

"Rica" and "Ivanka"

I've seen some awesome Ombre manicures lately, and I got bored one night and decided to try my hand at this. This was my first attempt, and it's far from perfect, but I really like the idea. "Rica" was starting to bore me, and "Ivanka" was still sitting on my table, so I grabbed a cosmetic sponge and gave this a shot. In hindsight, I probably should have started with something a little more similar in color on the first try.

I do think you'll soon see more attempts at the Ombre look. I think some of the Zoya sparkles and shimmers would be a cool way to liven up some creme polishes. Yes, yes. I would expect to see more soon.