Zoya Drew

Drew is from Zoya's Fall 2009 collection. I bought a bunch from that collection, and only Drew and Pinta remained untried today. Drew is not a color that attracts me in the bottle - the warm mauve is a little too conservative for my taste. But on the nail it's totally pretty! It doesn't dry to the bottle color, so don't be put off by that like I was! I like the shimmer, which I wasn't sure about - it doesn't pull too warm. I'm taking pictures under a new setup now, and I'm very pleased with the color accuracy on my screen. I used 2 coats - it was very pigmented and only slightly thick. I found the brush a little hard to use, as with all Zoyas.

Diamond Cosmetics Hot Summer Pink

2 coats, direct sun

I had in mind the idea of a hot pink and black zebra manicure. I originally started with Essie Punchy Pink, an untried neon. After 4 coats and terrible streaking, I admitted failure. I removed it and applied this color instead. This is one of my favorite hot pinks - look how pretty the shimmer is! It has a little bit of blue flash, but not enough to be overwhelming. Once that dried, I got out the Konad!


I used Konad's Special black for the stripes. I see why this polish is so great for Konad - it's thick, sticky, and dries quickly. It stains like crazy, and I got it all over myself. But isn't the pattern incredibly cool? I love it, and expect to be konad obsessed for quite awhile - I've ordered the fake konad from ebay, and I'm planning to get the other full nail plates from wowsocool - I like them better on me, with my shortish nails. You can see I had trouble with image transfer on a few nails, but I'm really pleased overall!

OPI DS Chiffon

3 coats, direct sunlight

The OPI DS series are my favorite holographic polishes. The holographic particles are smooth and the brushes my favorites, but I also appreciate that they have colors that manage to be both conservative and blingy. I would wear Chiffon almost anywhere - indoors it appears a softly sparkly peachy pink. Outside it reveals its holo nature more, but it is never tacky. I am always attracted to peaches and light pinks, but they don't look good on me - this one does, by nature of its formula. It is rather sheer - it needed all 3 coats.

Icing Pink Sparkle

2 coats, direct sunlight

Recently, my nailpolish obsession has driven me to shop in two stores that I swore I wouldn't... Hot Topic and "The Icing" (love the quotes.) Hot topic didn't excite me too much, but I came away with several great polishes at the Icing. Pink Sparkle is a hot pink with tiny holographic glitter. The glitter isn't super apparent, but it is pretty. The brushes on these are weird. This one had an enormous "pro wide" style brush which I quite liked, except for the stray hairs I had to trim. Some of the others have tiny skinny brushes. Seems rather hit or miss. I added some thinner, and got bottle coverage in 2 thin coats. I adore this color - it's so sparkly, a perfect Barbie color I think. I also like that, while bright, it is not a neon, so I don't feel people are staring at my nails.

Below you see the color in indirect sunlight, giving you a better idea of how it looks most of the time. I love it!