Five Finger Friday: Medium, Muted Greens

Hello Lab Partner!

Welcome to another 5FF. In previous posts, I've covered mint greens and gold-greens, so it seems like a good time for us to take a look at medium, muted greens (think army greens, olive greens)--popular colors this fall! I had a hard time narrowing down which five I wanted to feature, but I finally selected OPI Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window, Zoya Yara, Essie Sew Psyched, RGB Camp, and Nicole by OPI Green up Your Act:

Thumb: Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window; pointer: Green up Your Act; Middle: Camp;  Ring: Sew Psyched; Pinkie: Yara. Outside, natural light.

The above photo captures the colors pretty accurately, although they appear slightly darker than they actually are, particularly Yara. Below is another photo that shows the colors quite accurately, although the thumb is a bit blurry at that angle, and it's difficult to see the gold micro-glitter in Yara (you'll find a close-up of Yara further down):

On the thumb: OPI Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window. This polish applies well, with a bit of streakiness on the first coat. It's a cream that is opaque and streak-free in two coats. It has quite a bit of yellow undertone.

On the pointer finger: Nicole by OPI Green up Your Act. This polish and Yara are the darkest of the five. It has quite a bit of blue to it, although it appears even bluer in the bottle. It applies very smoothly and is nearly opaque in one coat. It's shown here with two coats.


On the middle finger: RGB Camp. I have to say, I'm disappointed. I usually adore RGB polishes--they're some of my favorites--but this one applies a little streaky, with visible brush strokes. This one has grey undertones.

On the ring finger: Essie Sew Psyched. This is the polish I used for the most recent Mystery Mani Monday, so check that post if you'd like to see this polish on all five fingers. The color of Sew Psyched is very similar to RGB Camp, with strong grey undertones, but Sew Psyched is a littler darker. This polish applies beautifully. It was opaque in one coat, but I applied a second for good measure.

Zoya Yara

On the pinkie: Zoya Yara. Like Uh-Oh, Yara has some yellow to it, but not as much as Uh-Oh. It applies beautifully and is opaque in two coats. It's a metallic (but a subtle one) with gold micro-glitter. This is the one polish out of the five that I can't really capture as well as I'd like in natural light, so I took a close up of it under artificial light so you can see the micro-glitter.

Thumb: Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window. Pinkie: Zoya Yara. Blurred to show glitter.

 


Here's another photo of Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window--you can really see its yellow undertone here--along with Yara (blurred to show the golden micro-glitter of Yara).


Of the five, Zoya Yara is my favorite, no question. I adore it! I was surprised by just how much I like it--why have I waited till now to try it?

So which of these medium, muted greens do you prefer?

Sending you lab love,

Allison

Sparkle Saturday: Gilded Braziliant

Hello Lab Partners!

It's officially Octber; we're now ten days into fall. Would someone please fill the Florida weather pattern in on that fact? I want to break out my smoky greys, my olive greens, and my blackened teals. But I just feel wrong wearing those colors when I'm buzzing around the city sporting short shorts, a tank top, and flip flops. Oh, and lots and lots of sunscreen. So what's a girl to do? Hello, orange polish! The perfect summer to fall transitional color, where all the blazing brightness of a great summer polish meets the warm earthiness of a great fall polish. Of course, I really don't need any excuse to wear orange polish, as it happens to be one of my personal favorites. And, as you may recall from Thursday's post on Butter London's Yummy Mummy, I was ready for something bright and blingy. So here it is, Essie's Braziliant layered with NYX Gilded Glitter:

Essie Brazilliant with NYX Gilded Glitter. Inside. Artificial light, no flash

Essie Brazilliant with NYX Gilded Glitter. Outside, natural light.

I started with two coats of Essie's Braziliant. Over the summer, I bought several colors from the Braziliant collection, and I've been pleased with each of them. This one was no exception. The brush provided good control, and I achieved opacity with two streak-free coats. This polish is a lovely orange leaning ever so slightly toward apricot. It has a subtle shimmer, which lends this color a luminosity and makes it slightly more complex than I would have expected.

But this is Sparkle Saturday, so I couldn't stop with all the brilliance that is Braziliant! I added two layers of NYX Gilded Glitter, a chunky glitter top coat:

NYX Gilded Glitter

 What's the best thing about Gilded Glitter? It's actually easy to remove! That's right; you heard me correctly--it's easy to remove. Now that this little piece of info has settled in, allow me to add that I also found it very slow to dry, even with a quick-dry top coat like Out the Door or Poshe (and yes, I tried both). Now, perhaps I just happened to get some funky, slow-drying batch. But assuming that my bottle is typical, this glitter polish comes with a trade-off: ease of removal at the expense of quickness of drying. Further research is needed to determine whether a different quick-dry top coat, such as Seche Vite, would alter the results.

That's all for today, lab partners. Until next time, sending you lab love!

Allison