China Glaze Watermelon Rind and L.A. Girl Overdose

This is China Glaze's Watermelon Rind. How amazing is this green?! And it’s a proper green. With a foil-like shimmery finish. Exquisite.

After a couple of days I added a glitter topcoat. This is LA Girl Overdose. A mixture of large and small glitter pieces, mainly red, green and silver in colour.

My Favourite Summer Lipsticks

As we come to the end of summer, I decided to do a post on my favourite bright lipsticks that I wore  during summer. We didn't get too many sunny days this year, these photos were taken on one of the rare days the sun made an appearance!

L-R MAC Impassioned, Viva Glam Nicki, Hibiscus, Sail La Vie and Watch Me Simmer.

Swatches L-R Impassioned, Viva Glam Nicki, Hibiscus, Sail La Vie and Watch Me Simmer.

What were your favourite lipsticks this summer?

Swatch Chaos

A chaos of swatches indeed. Various colours and various brands. This post also marks the end of all the older photos that have been stacked up in the 'must blog' folder on my computer. So from now on my photos should look more consistent, yay! 

Sally Hansen HD Wavelength.

A pink with golden shimmer, so summery.

Orly Terracotta

A very red toned orange. Intense.

OPI Sweet Memories

A delicate, yet reasonably opaque light pink.

Decades of Shades

An ugly brown I never should have bought.

Catrice Moonlight Express and My Milkyway

Today's post features two of my Catrice polishes. First up is Moonlight Express.

Moonlight Express

It is a deep forest green with black undertones and a shimmer running throughout it. It was very opaque with just one coat but these pictures are two coats. A polish I definitely need to wear more often!

My Milkyway

This is a topcoat style polish. It is a semi-sheer, shimmery white. I have it layered over black here and it creates a blue/purple holo effect! 

Chanel Island

Chanel Island was part of Chanel's Summer 2012 collection.

I was hesitant to pick up Island but I’m so glad I did. It’s a nude with that some thing extra. There is a pink sheen off it. Yes it is slightly frosty looking but I’ve really grown to like that effect! This is 3 coats.

Ciaté Wait Until Dark

Ciaté Wait Until Dark is a murky, multi-toned purple. It looks beautiful in the bottle but it doesn't quite transfer the same on the nail.

It was also difficult to get non-blurry photos of this one but in the last picture you can see a slight depth to the colour. I was disappointed with this shade but thankfully I got it free with a magazine!

A Few Essie Swatches

An array of colours from Essie.

Lovie Dovie. A white/cream/ivory. No pink tones.  I don’t actually know if it is called Lovie Dovie as I got it in TK Maxx and I think it was mislabelled. 3 coats. This kind of shade is what I believe Essie excels at - elegance.

Bordeaux. A vamp, deep wine red. The only thing I dislike is its tendency to stain. 2 coats. Extremely glossy even without a topcoat.

Splash of Grenadine. A blue toned pink.  Easy to wear, easy to apply. Opaque in 2 coats

OPI Glacier Bay Blues

OPI Glacier Bay Blues was a lemming of mine for quite a time as it looks like the most mesmerising polish in a bottle. I eventually found it on evilbay for a decent price. I can’t say I don’t like it because I do but it isn't quite as marvelous as I had anticipated.

You can see the purple and green undertones on the nail but certainly not to the same extent as in the bottle, sob! It also took 3 coats to look decent.

China Glaze Ghoulish Glow

China Glaze Ghoulish Glow was the glow in the dark topcoat that was released for Halloween 2011. Now to be perfectly honest, I have absolutely no need for a glow in the dark polish but....you never know when you'll need one, right?

I have a few pictures here that show that it really does glow. It's recommended that you 'charge' the polish under bright lights for a few minutes to get the best glow out of it.

The glow doesn't last for ages, it kind of fades but for the novelty of it I love it! Someday I might even chance wearing it to a club hah!

Barry M Pink Flamingo

What a delicious pink crème! I adore this shade.  This was 2 coats and applied easily. This shade of pink reminds me of those summer evenings at the end of August when the fun of summer is just coming to the end but you’re making the most of it. Late nights chilling out, cooling down skin that has been warmed by sun all day long, before getting ready to go out and dance the night away. (We usually get at least one day like this in Ireland!)

And of course I couldn’t write about a Pink Flamingo polish without including one of my favourite songs of the same name!

Maybelline Ceramic Blue

I’ve really fallen for light, dusty blues lately and Ceramic Blue is no exception. Sublimely pretty, it is a shame that the micro shimmer that is in the bottle isn’t more apparent on the nail. Alas, we cannot have everything.

This is actually my one and only Maybelline polish and I really liked the formula. It was opaque in 2 coats.

OPI A Dozen Rosas

OPI A Dozen Rosas is from the 2006 Mexican Collection. I seem to have picked up a number of pinks from that collection, they seem to be a favourite of my local Sally's!

A Dozen Rosas is a beautiful, soft dusky rose. It has a discreet shimmer to it. Enough to make it more than just a creme polish.

It's a good neutral pink to have as it is universally wearable.

Dior Electric Blue and Some Silver Sparkle!

Dior Electric Blue. It really is Electric Blue. So vibrant, especially for a crème finish. It was also easily opaque, 1 coat would have been fine but I did 2 out of habit.

I added a silver glitter in the form of Pa A50 after a few days. It’s an awesome chunky silver glitter and the some of the particles are holographic!

Love these together!

Chanel April

Chanel April was released as part of the Chanel Harmonie de Printemps Collection of Spring 2012.

April is a beautiful garnet shade and is a creme finish.

It kind of reminds me of a berry colour so I think it will be lovely to wear in early winter as well.

Ciaté Purple Sherbet

This was a magazine freebie. I love the Ciate bottles I think they look really sweet.

Purple Sherbet is a mid-tone purple crème. It has more pink tones than blue but is a nice, clean purple. To me it's a tad darker than a pastel but very fresh.

It applied flawlessly. This was 3 coats.

OPI Glove You So Much

OPI Glove You So Much is one of the beautiful polishes that was released with the Holiday Wishes collection of 2009. That was the collection with the gem that is Merry Midnight which I still haven't managed to find for a decent price. I found this and Smitten With Mittens for a good price on eBay last winter and they are both wonderful winter reds to wear. I also managed to snap up Ginger Bells.

Glove You So Much is a deep, glossy, wine red. It also has a slight shimmer which my camera didn't pick up. It has great opacity and wear-time. 

I adored this last winter and can't wait to start wearing it again. Just fabulous.

China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise

China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise is one of their neon shades from the permanent line. It is a super, bright, green turquoise.

I was surprised when this dried to a matte finish, but nothing a shiny topcoat can't solve.

This a colour that really pops. I kept looking at my nails when I was wearing this, it's just such a happy, summer colour!