Essie Bridal Collection 2008

I've been meaning to swatch this collection for MONTHS, but my nails are always so stained that I haven't been able to until now. For some reason my nails are really nice and white and pretty right now... I haven't done anything different! Maybe it's from all the swatching I've done this week. Who knows. I'm not complaining.

Anyway, just in case you like these polishes and don't want to read my less-than-glowing opinion of them, I'll post the pictures first and my review second :)



Blushing Bride. A sheer milky cream with a bit of a pink tint.


Cloud Nine. A sheer bright white jelly.



Happily Ever After. A sheer milky shade.



No Pre-Nup. A sheer pink jelly.


Tie The Knot. An off-white cream with a hint of beige.


True Love. A sheer peachy-pink jelly.


Now for my review.


Honestly, I HATE this collection. Sorry sheer-lovers. I just can't do it!

First of all, I never wear these types of colors so they are way outside of my comfort zone. They're not my style, not my personality, and really, really uninteresting to me. I'll go so far as to say that these polishes depress me. When I look down at my hands while wearing these, it's like seeing someone else's hands attached to my body. Freaky.

Second, what you're looking at is SIX COATS OF POLISH. No, I'm totally serious, six freaking coats of polish are on my nails here and they're not even close to being opaque. I do not like to see my nails through my polish. If I were to do only two or three coats of these polishes, it would pretty much look like I'm wearing nothing on my nails. I just don't see the point. With foundation it's one thing- wearing makeup to look like you're not wearing makeup. But my nails? This look is not for me, that's for sure.

Third, if your nails are even the least bit yellow or stained, these polishes will look like total crap. There is no hiding stains with these polishes. Any little bit of damage (like those white lines from where I slammed my finger in a cabinet) or discoloration will be glaringly obvious. These polishes require naturally flawless nails to wear, otherwise it just enhances and draws attention to any flaws that are present.

The colors are boring, plain, demure, uninteresting, natural and just all around too feminine for me. This means that a lot of women probably love these to death, and more power to them. If you like these colors, awesome for you. Thousands of them exist in the world and you can easily find something to suit your tastes. For me, they are the essence of frustration. When I go to the store looking for a cool new polish in a fun color, all I can find are hundreds of sheer pinks!! Sheer pinks are the bane of my existence, if you haven't noticed. Hah!

Okay, okay. I know I'm being harsh. But hey, this is my blog!

I guess there's one color I like from this collection. Cloud Nine.

Cloud Nine is really pretty. It's a bright white jelly that brightens your nails and makes them look very clean. I think it would be a good base for other colors and I'm sure it would make a really natural looking french manicure. If it wasn't so sheer, I might actually wear it. It's soft enough to not look retro, super bright but not stark and chalky looking! It is a really nice white jelly.

Why do all 'bridal' collections have to be so plain? Not every bride on earth wants plain nails on her wedding day. I sure didn't- I wore glitter! Holo glitter! OPI Paris Couture For Sure and Orly Love Each Other, to be exact. I wish someone would release a funky bridal collection for people like me. Seriously, not every bride wants to look identical and not every bride wants the stereotypical chunky fake pink-and-whites that plague the pages of bridal magazines and posters inside salons.

I can see that there are plenty of situations that call for these types of polishes. Job interviews, perhaps. Very conservative offices, sure. Jobs where you're not allowed to wear polish but want to do it anyway without drawing attention to it, totally.

Not all collections of sheer pinks are boring and plain. In fact, there is a collection of sheer pinks and whites that I absolutely love and would totally wear (and have actually worn)! I'll post about that later this week. Light feminine colors can have character and still be pretty (and not need six coats to wear).

*sigh*

Essie Summer 2009: The North Fork Collection

This is the first installment of Essie's summer 2009 releases, and I am quite excited about it for two reasons:

This collection consists of all blues. This is Essie we're talking about. Yes, BLUES!

This may be a sign of things to come- Essie doing blues? Three of them? What other cool colors does Essie have planned? I hope no more sheer pinks and nudes like usual!


I'll get to my review in a moment, but you can also check out reviews for Essie North Fork at The Nailphile, and here at The Crystal Files.

One more thing I'll say about this collection before I post the pictures- These colors resemble the three turquoise shades from the 'mystery' imaginary collection than they do the ones in the press release. YES!!!!



Greenport, full sunlight and indoors. A relaxed yet vibrant turquoise creme. Can you believe this is an Essie polish?! It's so hot! It has some similarities to Misa Dirty Sexy Money and Barielle Sweet Addiction, but it's not a duplicate of them. I hoped that I would see a color like this in OPI's South Beach collection, but I'm content with having it from Essie.



Shelter Island, sunlight and indoors. A bright, cheerful sky blue. Another shocker! A bright blue, I almost can't believe my eyes. Essie did a bright blue. Hallelujah! I love this color a lot, but it is very similar to a lot of other bright blues like Barielle Swizzle Stix, OPI Just Groovy, Zoya Yummy, Misa something-with-a-really-long-name-I-can't-remember.... But still, it's hot and you won't hear me complaining about another beautiful blue.




Sag Harbor, sunlight and indoors. A light, slightly greyed pastel blue shimmer. I don't think I have very many colors like this. It is a little similar to some of Essie's discontinued blues like St. Barth's Blue, but at the moment I can't think of another color that looks like this. The name Sag Harbor always makes me laugh. There is this clothing brand called Sag Harbor that has styles mainly geared for the retirement-age crowd and I always thought that was a funny name for the brand. I never realized it was the name of a place. Sag Harbor... tee hee.


The formula on these is fan-freakin'-tastic. All are opaque in two coats, no streaks, no sheerness, no bubbles, no runny globby three-free formula, NOTHING! Just pure smooth creamy pigmented polish. They dry super fast even without topcoat- this could be due to the fact that the polish doesn't require more than two thin coats or it could be the formula. Either way, I love it. Three-free formulas seem to be improving.

From the moment I saw the first promo image of these I knew I'd like them, but I didn't think I'd like them as much as I do. Like I mentioned before, these resemble the set of blue imaginary polishes more than the 'real' image from the press release. Observe:


This is the image from the press release, which is the 'official' correct image from Essie.




This is the mistake image that was sent in error along with the press release.


See what I mean?? It was the imaginary ones after all!!! Now if they would only release the trio with the green, golden-white and yellow....

By the way, Shelter Island, Sag Harbor and Greenport are all limited edition shades which are officially available starting in April and will retail for $9.

Reader Requests

I've been sooooo behind on my swatching and requests, but I managed to finish a few today!



OPI Golden Rules! From one of my favorite OPI collections of all time, Night Brights. A soft metallic gold with a brushed-metal type finish.



OPI Cozu-Melted In The Sun. A shimmery peachy metallic with large particle shimmer. Super pretty. It looks darker in the bottle than it does on my fingers... Strange!


Lippmann Collection Rhapsody In White. I didn't think I had this one, but it turns out I did! A very pearly bright white. Easier to apply than Icing On The Cake, but still not easy to work with. Very brushstroky.



China Glaze Aqua Baby. A bright blue creme. If I recall correctly, this is practically identical to China Glaze Shower Together from the Eco Collection, but I couldn't find my bottle to compare.

I finally got a chance to swatch the Essie 2008 Bridal Collection and the OPI Princess Charming collection, as well as a ton of old and brand new polishes, so keep an eye out for those. I have comparisons on the way also. Whew!

Orgasm Cosmetics Hard Day's Night

Orgasm Cosmetics Hard Day's Night.

This is the first polish I've tried from the new brand Orgasm Cosmetics and I am really pleased with it.

This shade is called Hard Day's Night, and despite the fact that it causes the song of the same name to instantly repeat over and over inside my head, I really enjoy this polish. It looks like a rich charcoal grey with silver shimmer, but it has a really blue cast to it like it's not actually grey, it's a darkened, smoky blue. In fact, Orgasm Cosmetic's color chart portrays this polish as a dark blue-purple and not grey, so I can't be imagining the blue cast on the polish.

The formula on this polish is really nice. The color itself is opaque in two coats. The texture of the polish is 'normal' to me- not noticeably thin or thick and for a three-free polish it really doesn't seem like one (it doesn't have the runny/gooey texture that three-free polishes can have). The brush was a nice shape and didn't have any defective bristles. The drying time was reasonable- not particularly long or short. All around, a good, solid formula with no obvious flaws.

I really like the bottle- it's a unique shape. I have no other polishes that have the same bottle as this one. If you're trying to make your brand stand out from the crowd, a unique bottle shape helps. It also helps if the bottle shape is actually good (Butter London FAIL) and while this bottle isn't terribly fancy or anything, it is sturdy and stable and not an awkward shape and it doesn't tip over when you're painting your nails.

Another thing I like about this polish is that the name of the polish is printed on the bottle. I wish more companies would do this! I can't tell you how many label stickers I've found floating around in my polish bins. Certain brands are notorious for having the labels either fall off or fade completely, and that can't happen with this polish. Nice big print on the back of the bottle clearly displays the name of the shade. A really nice touch.

For a new brand, it sure seems like they did their homework. Fun colors, great formula and bottles with labels that won't fall off. The color chart on the website is the only flaw I've seen so far- it is a very pretty interactive color chart, but it's not an accurate depiction of the colors (at least for two of the four colors I have tried).

Orgasm Cosmetics nail lacquers are available directly from their website for $6.
Clicking on the color swatch of the polish you want will open the "add to cart" screen.

Dazzle Dry Nail System

I've been seeing the Dazzle Dry nail system advertised in Nails Magazine for months, and it had me very curious. I finally broke down and had to have more information on this mysterious brand. Now that I've tried it, I am in love!

Dazzle Dry is a line of super fast drying nail lacquers, if you can't tell from the name... And when they say fast dry, they mean it!! They are seriously the fastest drying polishes I have ever used in my entire life. I am extremely impressed.

For best results, it is recommended to use the entire Dazzle Dry system when applying the polish on natural nails. The system consists of a nail prep/primer, a basecoat, the color and a topcoat.

The Dazzle Dry Nail Prep is sort of like pimped-out rubbing alcohol. It removes oil and sanitizes nails to provide the ideal surface for the bascoat and polish. This step really helps polish wear and prevents chipping.

After you prep your nails with a Nail Prep soaked cotton ball, you apply the special Dazzle Dry basecoat. A word of warning: if it is cold outside or wherever you are storing the basecoat, it will solidify. No joke. When I got my bottle it was a thick, cloudy gel, almost the texture of Vaseline. This is easily remedied by running some warm water over the bottle. It returns to a clear liquid state very quickly. Apply one coat of basecoat to your nails.

It is important for the basecoat to be fully dry before applying the Dazzle Dry polish. If it's not completely dry, it will make the polish streaky and stringy and you don't want that. So give the basecoat a couple seconds to dry before you try to polish.

Applying the polish is a breeze. Of the three colors I tried, one was completely opaque in one coat and the other two only needed two coats. If you are doing two coats of color, wait for the first coat to dry before applying the second to avoid streaking or clumping. The polish dries so fast, you really only need to wait a minute or two for it to be totally dry.

This polish dries to a semi-matte or satin finish. If you prefer a glassy shine, apply the Dazzle Dry topcoat. The topcoat dries in seconds and is incredibly shiny.

Pretty straightforward. The coolest part is how quickly this polish dries. If you do only one coat of polish, it dries completely in about three minutes. If you do two coats like I did, it's completely dry- not dentable, smudgeproof, absolutely bone dry- in about five minutes. Holy crap!!!

The polish dries very hard and shiny. My nails feel very strong while wearing it. And on top of all that, this stuff wears like iron!! I've been wearing it for a couple days already and there's barely a hint of tipwear, no chipping, no shrinkage even after cleaning, cooking, dozens of hand washings and a very hot bath. Friggin' amazing.

Here are the colors I've tried:





Carnival Coral. A vibrant, saturated, summery coral creme. I'm currently wearing this as a pedi and it's very flattering! I don't normally wear this type of shade, but this is bright enough to be interesting.



Lavender Parade. A soft, springy, Easter-egg type lavender creme. It's delicate and feminine but still fun because it's purple! These types of purples seem to be really popular this season, nearly every spring collection released so far has one... I like them, but I think they need a little visit from the Konad Fairy...

And I saved the best for last...




POLAR JADE!!! Wow, can you believe this color??? It's a medium slightly dusty emerald green shimmer, and it's drop-dead gorgeous. Seriously. I'm head over heels for this color. It looks darker indoors than it does in sunlight and it's proving to be a very difficult color to photograph. I'd say it's in between the indoor and outdoor colors- it's not as warm as the outside one and it's not as cool as the inside one. Right in the middle. Absolutely stunning. I'm still wearing this polish and I don't want to take it off!

Overall, these polishes rock. I am very impatient when it comes to polish drying time. I always use Seche Vite and quick dry drops and even then it can still take too long for me. That is nonexistent with this polish. You don't need Seche, you don't need drops, you don't even need to wait for it to dry because before you even realize it it's already dried! This would be the perfect "Emergency Polish" to keep in your purse- you can apply it three minutes before you need to be somewhere and not have to worry about ruining wet nails.

Removal is impossibly simple. Just use regular polish remover and it comes off in seconds. It might be due to the thin texture of this polish, but it is way easier to remove than regular polish.

The formula is great IF you let the basecoat dry. Like I mentioned above, if the basecoat is still wet, the polish will get stringy and sticky. The polish formula is thin, smooth and pigmented. No bubbling or shrinkage at all, no dents, nothing. Perfect.

The color selection is small but good. They have your traditional reds and pinks, but they also have a good selection of unique shades like Polar Jade. They have purple, blue, yellow, gold and even black. I'd love to see this line expand even more, it's become a new favorite of mine and I am so thankful that I got the opportunity to test drive it. It's awesome.

You can get the Dazzle Dry Nail System and Nail Lacquers directly from VB Cosmetics. Individual polishes are $9, the treatment system is $54 and comes with the Nail Prep, Basecoat, Topcoat, three nail colors of your choice and complete instructions on how to use the system. They even sell a special thinner designed to restore the texture of Dazzle Dry polishes and treatments.

Update on Essie collections - 'Mystery' Collection and North Fork

Okay, here we go.

I think I may have caused a minor frenzy yesterday by posting images of six beautiful and untraditional Essie colors. Here's what happened!

I received a press release with images for the North Fork collection (the three light blues), but at the bottom of the email, two additional images were attached. I posted them because they looked like a collection to me- six shades, all within a summery, beach-like color scheme and they came directly from Essie. However, I have received confirmation from Essie that the attached images were in fact an error and are not representative of actual polishes.

I was really, really excited for that 'mystery' collection too. I mean, SUPER excited. I am very sad that it doesn't really exist. But, don't fret! The word from Essie is this: North Fork will not be the only summer release. They have a couple more things up their sleeve for this summer, so we might get something almost as good! We just have to wait and see, and you can be sure that I'll update you whenever I get new information.

So, here's the lowdown in case you didn't read any of this:

The 'Mystery' collection I posted below- NOT REAL.
Here's the link in case you missed it:
http://www.scrangie.com/2009/03/essie-mystery-collection-possible.html

The North Fork collection I posted below- REAL. The picture in my post is correct, and it will be released in April. Three limited edition blues.
Link:
http://www.scrangie.com/2009/03/essie-summer-2009-north-fork-collection.html



I'm sorry to disappoint everyone, I am disappointed as well! This is only the beginning of the summer collections this year, and I am confident that this will be a summer of GREAT polishes!

Essie 'Mystery' Collection -EDITED: Imaginary!!

NEW UPDATE: Essie has let me know that the images received below were an error and do NOT represent actual polishes! I think I may cry, I was really getting my hopes up for this collection! Sorry to say that the collection in this post does not actually exist.

EDIT: I'm still waiting for Essie to confirm or deny the existence of these colors, but I'll be sure to let you know the minute I hear something! This post is currently 100% speculation, so I wouldn't get too excited about this 'collection' just yet! I certainly hope these colors are real and not just a mistake sent in an email :)

I also received these images from Essie with no accompanying information. No names, no release date, no collection information...

My best guess is that this is the Summer 2009 full collection. You know how Essie sometimes releases a mini collection like the Neon Shorts or Cool Click and then does a full collection at the same time? This *might* be it, but I really don't know!

If I get any concrete information on this collection I'll be sure to post it. But, for now, CHECK THIS OUT!!!! IT'S FREAKING AMAZING!!





I can't believe my eyes. Essie... blue, green, yellow??? Maybe they saw how much of a success Mesmerize was and decided to branch out from the usual pale pinks?

I am excited!!!

Essie Summer 2009: The North Fork Collection

Here's a quick look at Essie's upcoming collection of blues, The North Fork Collection.

This is what Essie says about it:

"Within the soft palette of hues that floated down this season's runways, one color stood out among the rest... blue. Dreamy blues reminiscent of bright open skies and deep welcoming waters lead Essie founder Essie Weingarten to create The North Fork Collection - named for the quaint vacation villages perched around the waters of Long Islan's East End.

"The new nail colors remind me of the most beautiful blues that surround The North Fork," says Weingarten.
"Tranquil yet playful, the colors cross over in fashion and nature."

The nail colors in The North Fork Collection capture the essence of blue. The fashion-or azure fingertips lounging under the sun.

Greenport, Sag Harbor and Shelter Island, each named after areas around The North Fork and Long Island Sound, are an homage to the beauty of nature."

GREENPORT - Dreamy aquamarine paradise

SAG HARBOR - Cool silver blue

SHELTER ISLAND - Sky blue radiance

Wow... Essie, is that really you??? A collection of all blues??? Rock on!

Cute green alert! Piggy Polish Lily's Pad

Check out this awesome new green polish!

It's from Piggy Polish's spring 2009 collection and it's called Lily's Pad. You all know I'm always on the lookout for great green polishes, and this one really is pretty!



Piggy Polish Lily's Pad. A bright grass green shimmer that walks the line between frost/shimmer/metallic finish. It's a little bit sheer, but three coats takes care of the visible nail line. I think this would also look mesmerizing with a coat of Piggy Polish Sunshine On Snowflakes on top!

If you don't want to do three coats, you can use this polish over black. I tried one coat of Lily's Pad over my usual Wet N Wild Black and it was beautiful. It becomes a more rich, deep metallic green as opposed to the bright, crisp grass green when worn alone.

Isn't it lovely? And it comes with Piggy Polish's signature flower toe ring. I love toe rings, and Piggy Polish always makes sure to coordinate the color of the flower and beads with the color of the polish. Seriously, talk about adorable.

I have more Piggy Polish shades, both old and new, waiting to be reviewed. They're such a cute, fun and funky brand, I'm surprised I don't see more people raving about them. They always have greens and blues, duochromes and sometimes glitter, and the cute toe rings... I'd like to see them get more love :)

And despite the name, yes, you can use them on your fingers.

Del Sol Rock Star - Color Changing Polish

I no longer feel good about recommending this brand, so I've archived my review.

More drugstore awesomeness: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri

This time I have something from the drugstore that isn't discontinued or limited edition or hard to find... In fact, it's brand new and I've seen it at every store I've been to in the last month.

Sally Hansen has a new line of "Insta-Dri" (why did they spell it like that? Weird.) shades that come in ugly bottles and are supposed to be super-quick-dry. There are a bunch of shades- a blue or two, a red/orange, a plum - but only two of them really caught my eye.




Lightening. Their spelling, not mine! This is a creamy yellow. Not neon and not too muted. Not as bright as a lot of other yellows. It's streaky like all yellow polishes are, but doing three coats eliminates the streaks and unevenness.




Jumpin' Jade. A shimmery blue-tinged green. Really pretty! It's not as green as I would like it to be, but it's still beautiful.

The colors are great. There are, however, a couple of weird things about these polishes!

For one, the bottles are a really weird shape. They're long and almost triangular, and I think they're pretty ugly.

What's weirder than the shape of the bottle is the shape of the brush. It's a huge, wide, flat and slightly curved monster of a brush. It's really... unique? It's gigantic! One of the strangest looking brushes I've seen. I have heard a lot of complaints about the brush in these, but I actually like it. The size and shape of the brush is intended to give you one-stroke coverage on all of your nails, resulting in a very fast manicure. This is the case for me- while the brush is a little too wide for a couple of my nails, it gives me perfect coverage with one brushstroke. Similar to OPI's Pro-Wide brush, but, uh, wider. And flatter.

The formula is a little three-freeish for me. It's thick but runny. The polish really does dry super fast, so that's a bonus. I did three coats of the yellow, no topcoat and it was dry in ten minutes. Two coats of Jumpin' Jade was dry in around five. That's without my usual coat of Seche Vite! Pretty cool.

I think these are on the pricier end of drugstore polishes. These are around $5, though they seem to go on sale often. Usually when I buy drugstore polishes, I expect them to be under $3, so sometimes it's a shock to see them cost upwards of $5 each. To put it in perspective, you can get OPIs, Essies, China Glaze, Orly, et cetera online for $2.60-$4.75 each. It also seems that the prices on drugstore polishes are steadily rising.

Overall, I love the gigantic brush and the quick-dry nature of these polishes. I like that I was able to go to a grocery store and get green and yellow polishes. I don't like the bottle shape, but that hardly matters...

Sephora Brand Glittering Nail Polish

When I saw these on Sephora.com, I knew I had to have them. Glitter nail polish? Click!

I ordered four shades- Pink Agate, Fuchsia Quartz, Blue Sapphire and Violet Amethyst. So far, I've only swatched two of them. Pics first and then my review.



Blue Sapphire. A truly spectacular dark blue jelly with varying sizes of silver glitter. I almost prefer this shade over the beloved Essie Starry Starry Night. The jelly-like finish of the polish makes some of the glitter appear blue, while the glitter at the top layer of polish appears silver. It's beautiful.



Violet Amethyst. I don't know about you, but this isn't really what I have in mind when I think "violet" or "amethyst". It's a super dark purple, more brown than purple in most lights and it contains NO GLITTER. :( Just a glass-fleck-esque type shimmer. It is very dark, not very sparkly and not very purple.


Now, I really, really wanted to love these polishes, but they're just too flawed to get a glowing review.

First of all, the name of the polish is misleading. They are called "Glittering Nail Polish" and the shade descriptions mention each polish containing glitter. That is not accurate. As far as I can tell, only three of the eight shades contain actual glitter, while the rest have a sort of chunky-type shimmer. When I received my polishes, you can bet I was one sad little glitter addict. No glitter. I think I pouted.

Second, these shrink more than any polish I have ever worn in my life. I can't figure out what's causing it. I know that quick-dry topcoat like Seche Vite or Poshe are usually to blame for polish shrinkage, but I didn't use any topcoat on these! You can tell from my pictures that there is severe shrinkage happening. Why??? Why is this happening? The shrinking was so bad that I had to stop and do another coat of polish to cover it up before I photographed these. Bizarre.

Third, the formula is.... lacking. I don't want to say the formula is bad, it's just weird. It seems dry, if that makes any sense. It was hard to get enough polish onto the brush for it to glide smoothly across the nail. It felt sticky and it was awkward to try to get a smooth, even coat. The brush is very square shaped which makes it difficult to get that perfect curve along the cuticle.

Also worth noting: These are mini sized. They are not full sized polishes. I don't know the exact volume of these, but they are very small.


I will eventually get around to swatching the other two, along with the one Sephora Metallic nail polish I ordered. I think seeing that there was no glitter in half of them kinda took the wind out of my sails and I haven't been motivated to swatch them.

Final verdict: See these in person or at least find swatches online before you buy. Otherwise, you may be surprised when they arrive. Blue Sapphire is a truly gorgeous polish despite its formulary flaws (I think I made up a word!). Violet Amethyst is neither violet nor amethyst and does not actually contain glitter. If I had known this, I probably would have spent my money elsewhere!

Awesome tidbit from Zoya: Midori from the Summer 2009 Ooh-La-La Collection!

OMG you guys, check this out!!!

Zoya Midori from the Ooh-La-La Summer Collection!

How hot is that?!

I am so excited for this collection, I can hardly contain myself! Here's a little more info...

The summer 2009 collection will come in two parts:

La-Di-Da, six bright creams
Ooh-La-La, six bright metallics

These collections will be all about BRIGHT, FUN color! Yessss!!!!

Stay tuned for more info :)

Edit: More colors! It's a scavenger hunt! HOW FUN!!! :D Check out:

Pippa @ CasualLavish
Paz @ The Nailphile
Emme @ VampyVarnish
Goldie @ Clumps of MascaraTallulah @ All Lacquered Up
Dita @ Polish Addict
Ali @ Perfectly Polished Tips
Katy @ The Crystal Files

Nail Polish Wishes

I have been thinking a lot lately about new nail polish collections. Wondering what types of colors the polish companies are creating and why. What influences them? Is it fashion? Art? Or is it just the numbers, new creations based only on what sells?

I fully understand that I (we) are a different type of nail polish consumer. The main difference between me (us) and your average salon consumer is a big one: Volume. While the average salon patron or nail polish customer may purchase one or two polishes every couple of months, perhaps spending up to $20, we, the nail polish connoisseur, are no strangers to purchasing twelve polishes at a time, usually more, spending more on one polish purchase than the average polish consumer will in her lifetime.

Polish connoisseurs like you and I buy polish because we love color, and we love being able to have a little fun with our nails. We don't buy polish because we have to maintain our perpetually sheer-pink tips and our only bottle of Essie Ballet Slippers is running out. We buy it because we love it.

In my opinion, that should give us more pull with polish companies when they consider the colors for their collections. I feel like the only look at what the salon consumer is likely to purchase, but us polish junkies need some love too!

Please don't think I am being ungrateful and whiny- I know that polish companies have been very good to us. They've been listening to what the nail polish connoisseur wants, and giving us a little something every season. I mean, even Essie, the queen of sheer pinks, gave us Mesmerize this season. China Glaze gave us two unique collections, Romantique and Summer Days. Zoya's spring collection rocked my socks, and do I even have to mention Barielle and Color Club? I know they've been good to me, but I still can't help but feel like some things are missing.

Here are my nail polish wishes for this year.

I want....



GREENS!!! Specifically, Mazoo's 'Bahama Greens'. But really, I'll take all the greens I can get. Please skip the light golden-shimmer greens, please! We need a variety of greens in all tones and finishes. The world is severely lacking in dark to medium greens. We have a reasonable amount of light greens with gold shimmer, as well as pale pastel green cremes and chromes. We need more Zulus, more Recycles, more Evergreens, more Date Nights, more Rainforests, more, more more! And we need creme, yes, but frosts, shimmers, glitters, duochromes, jellies and holos! May this be the year of the greens.


I also want....






Camouflage colors! Drab green, olive, dusty grey, dirty brown. Not enough of these colors exist in the world, and I don't want to have to resort to 'frankening' my own. They are chic ad much as they are edgy, and I think people would be open to them if they had the option to buy them. And not just the traditional Woodland camouflage, either! How about desert camo, snow camo, urban camo, heck, even pink camouflage pattern themed colors? You could sell them in sets of three or six. It would be awesome.


I want....



More holo colors! Not just duplications of the holographic colors we already have, I want entirely new shades of mesmerizing holographic goodness! We don't really have a true red holo, nor do we have a dark blue or green holo. We don't have a yellow holo that isn't gold, and we don't have an orange holo that isn't pink. I want darker hologrpahic shades to contrast with all of the very light bordering on pastel holo shades we already have. And I wand more smooth holo like this Nfu Oh- it's extra awesome.


Also,







I want more unique glitters!! We have plenty of gold glitter, plenty of silver glitter, heck, even plenty of plain holographic glitter. I want more funky shades! Dark colors are especially rare. I bet people would love a dark blue glitter, and just look at the frenzy that China Glaze Emerald Sparkle caused! I know that a few people were even hoping for black glitter, and I think it could work. How about darker shades with a handful of holo glitter? Think about the Massini glitters and how much they rock. And don't be afraid to mix shades together, like these mind-blowingly awesome gems in a bottle:





I also NEED....





More Magnetiques! We only have a blue and a brown, think of the possibilities! And don't make them country-exclusive and don't make them limited edition. Does Lancome hold the patent on these? If not, why hasn't anyone else created these?! I have never gotten more compliments on my nails than when I wear Bordeaux Esmee.


I want...



More Mattes! I have both ManGlaze shades, and two Knockouts, but all together that's only six matte shades available for purchase. Two blacks, a grey, a white and a pink. You can do better than that. Matte is cool, we just need more variety. How about a matte red, a matte blue, a matte olive or a matte green? I think the green should look like moss, and maybe even be named moss.


And last but not least, we need more...







FLAKIES!!! The polish finish that magically transforms a plain polish into something special. There's nothing like flakies. And really, outside of Nfu Oh, there are no flakies that are easy to find. There are maybe one or two readily available shades from CND and Nubar, but other than that they have all been discontinued. Flaky polishes are truly unique and the possibilities for creating opal-like shades are endless. Please give us more.


There are a ton more things I'd like to see created by polish companies, but I could really go on all day. This post is long enough with my demands :) Maybe I will do a part two?

I hope that one day I get to see some of these things come to life. Every time a polish company releases yet another red or sheer pink (on top of the thousands and thousands in existence), I feel a little bit sad and wonder if it could have been something awesome instead.