Essie Camera + a-England Dragon Fail Gradient

So...I think I'm going to have to give in and buy myself another melmer. Or maybe a helmer. My attempts at purging are just failing miserable and my buying just keeps going up and up...I so need a ban again. I'm allowed 3 purchases in June; Elevation Polish on June 7th, Cult Nails Fairy Tale Collection sometime before June 15th (and I know I could just get it now but somehow waiting makes me feel like I have more restraint?) and a-England Jubilove Set sometime before June 10th. And yes, same deal, could get it now but the thing is if I try and go totally no buy in June I will fail miserably. At least these are planned buys! Unlike today's Pretty and Polished haul or yesterday's Sephora order or the Harlow & Co order over the weekend...you can see why I need a ban right? But it's my birthday on Monday! I needed those treats right? ...Riiiiiiiiiight. ANYWAY, let's talk about what's on the nails now. Ohmigosh I'm in love. Picked up Essie Camera from the Poppy-Razzi collection the other day at Meijer (umm and maybe Action and Bazooka too...I'm trying not to cave and get Lights too to have a complete collection. Hard to say if I'll win there.) on a whim since pinks are so not my thing but it was sitting there looking so bright and pretty and I'd already decided on the other two so Camera just kinda...hopped into the basket. Oops! Still, I was in the mood for something super bright and pink yesterday so on it went and now I'm so glad I grabbed it because the formula on this is amazing and it's so pretty!

See see! (and sorry for the messy pics. Took them this morning before work and applied late last night right before bed so didn't really clean up. It's much worse in the upcoming pics tragically.) Two coats and totally self leveling and I just want to wear it forever! Except then I managed to hit my not quite dry thumb on the night stand and tried to patch it up instead of taking off and reapplying but it looked all bumpy and weird so I decided it was the perfect time to try out that sponge gradient mani everyone has been doing. It turned out...not great. Well actually the first two nails I did were fine but then it was late and I got impatient so I just rushed the last 3 and it very much shows.

Plus the contrast is a bit much so I don't think the colour combo worked as well as it did in my head. Still, glad I tried it since I think I can do it better next time and I really adore the look.

A Little Cell Phone Pic Spam

I have better pics for some of these that will be posted later and some of them I just nabbed on the phone, oops.

a-England Princess Tears

Ok these may have been snapped at a stoplight whilst driving home from work because they were just holoing so well that I had to try and capture it. Good thing too since I totally spaced about taking pics later even though I was outside all freaking weekend and it was 85+ and sunny the entire time. I looooooove this polish. a-Englands are tops in my book and the Legends are just so stunning. Here, have another one.

a-England Order of the Garter

Put this lovely on right after I broke yet another nail (bringing the total up to 4) and decided I couldn't put off cutting them down any more. Obviously vampies are awesome with shorter nails but while I did want something dark, I wanted something bright too. I know, it's a contradiction but I think OotG navigated it perfectly. A deep rich glass fleck blue that's sooooo blue it practically glows. Even the bf who never ever notices my manis was like "wow that's some blue nails"

Cult Nails - Manipulative

Picked up this lovely from the $5 sale back in April. Such a pretty colour and an amazing formula. This polish lasted me 4 days! (Be proud, that's two manis in a month I wore for more than 3, the other being Princess Tears for 5, amaze)

Dollish Polish - GTL

Pretty and Polished - Galactus

Nail Junkie - Matte Violet

This lovely was part of Aleta's spring 2012 collection and is the first one I did a full mani with. One of these days there will be a proper post with all of them but for now I just have to say, love the colour, application was fabulous, wore for 3 days and could have gone for longer if it weren't for the polish ADD.

Nail-Venturous Magpie Feathers + Essie Marshmallow

Just a quickie post today, trying to get back into the swing of this blogging thing (or maybe back into isn't the right word since I've been a failure since the beginning with the consistent posting). Did a jelly sandwich with Essie Marshmallow and Nail-Venturous Magpie Feathers. I don't know why I doubted Essie Marshmallows squishy jelly awesomeness. I got it in December and it sat in my untrieds until this mani a couple weeks ago, fail! Magpie Feathers is such a lovely glitter but unfortunately the large hex glitter started to curl which made applying a bit difficult because of course Amy managed to make a lovely polish where grabbing the large hexes was as easy as dipping the brush.

Fixation Poppy + Fixation Blood of the Dragon

Today I have two amazing polishes from Fixation Polish which make me really regret not ordering all 4 polishes she had in her last opening. Trust me, Day Dream and Lime Crush and anything else Kristin has will be mine next opening! I happened to be wearing Butter London Trout Pout the day these two arrived and I was in awe at how well the base for Poppy matched Trout Pout. Trout Pout itself is a dream, I'm so happy all these corals are so in, I just love them (although my camera doesn't so I apologize for the colour. It's been a bit since I wore these so I can't remember which is most accurate)

Well once I ripped open my package and was holding them in my hand I knew Poppy was going on immediately. It's a shame I have no self control since I was just about to fold laundry and make dinner then too. Had to wait, Poppy was just too demanding. Still, she was worth it no?

Now as much as I adore Poppy, Blood of the Dragon truly owns my heart. I mean first there's the name and the fact that it's Game of Thrones inspired, but then there's just how gorgeous it is. I can't even get over how much I love the colour combos there. Now I wore this over a strange combo and it was totally unintentional but I'm kinda in love with how it came out. Intuitively it seems Blood of the Dragon belongs over a nice green, something to match the base right? Yeeeeeah I put it over MAC Bad Fairy over Dollish Polish Goonies Never Day Die. I kinda wish I had pics of the undies but the whole reason I put on BotD was because I was so bored with my mani. I mean GNDD is a nice gold and of course I love Bad Fairy but it needed jazzing up and oh did BotD deliver.

It's weird right? But there's so much depth. The Bad Fairy coat was really thin so the green really comes through over the parts where the gold was peaking through and I just really love the way everything comes together. And yes that's both hands, my poor middle finger is being slow to grow out again. Come on dear, match all the others! Promise I won't get drunk and destroy you again(...maybe)