Urban Decay Aquarius

Three coats, sunlight

Aquarius is a green-blue shimmer polish from Urban Decay’s Summer of Love collection. I applied two coats at first but then went over the bald spots with another so I think most of the nails ended up with three coats. It’s not really a colour that I would wear on its own so this stayed on me for only two days. However, it does look good when paired with other polishes.

With MAC Blue India and silver nail striper, sunlight

And here’s Aquarius with one of my all-time favourite polishes, MAC Blue India. I kept this manicure on for more than a week because of Blue India.

With Urban Decay Love Light, sunlight

This manicure was done some time back when I was obsessed with the whole nude nail and coloured french tips look. Love Light isn’t really a typical nude. It’s a very shimmery light pink that I think is an interesting alternative to the usual sheer milky nudes.

So here we are, halfway through the Urban Decay Summer of Love collection. Stay tuned for more!

OPI Coney Island Cotton Candy

Two coats, sunlight

Three coats, sunlight

OPI Coney Island Cotton Candy! I must admit that I was more drawn to its name than the actual colour itself. As you can see above, this is one of those sheer OPI nudes that makes no sense to me. Well, unless you’re trying to do a French manicure, which in my case wouldn’t work because I need a colour that covers up my very white tips. It does have an interesting yellow/buttery tinge to it though, which makes it more unique than sheer pinks.

I have seen pictures of Coney Island applied with four to five coats. Only then do you seem some semblance of a colour. But it’s my personal philosophy (out of laziness) that nail polish should not go beyond three coats.

With China Glaze Classic Camel

Felicia’s nails, with China Glaze Millenium and jewels, flash

Dim light

I’m starting to like Coney Island more and more. I like its unique milkiness and it’s so much more interesting in a French manicure.

Pop Beauty O Boy + Pop Beauty Grass

Melissa’s nails, 2 coats, sunlight

Pop Beauty is a UK-based brand that can be found in Sephora. They have quite a large range of nail polish and the colours tend toward neon and bright. Surprisingly though, their nude nail polish called O Boy was what stood out for me. It is a beige-pink colour with micro silver shimmer. You definitely don’t see the shimmer unless you’re standing under the bright sun. You can see faint silver speckles on Melissa’s second finger. This is also the only nude I own. I think that you only need one nude lacquer because well… how much can they vary, right? This is my perfect nude; just enough pink and beige to achieve that classy look. This was two coats.

Serena’s nails, artificial light

Sorry for the poor quality photograph. This was taken with my iPhone camera. Here’s some nail art with O Boy as the base, followed by China Glaze Lemon Fizz and China Glaze Peachykeen. And a pink-coloured gem right in the middle for good measure.

Felicia’s nails, Essie Hi Maintenance, Pop Beauty O Boy, artificial light

Here O Boy is layered over Essie Hi Maintenance, a sheer pink colour. The white polka dots are dotted on with one of those metal tools. As with all young girls who fidget, Felicia destroyed several of her nails within 10 minutes.

Grass is the second one I own from this brand. My picture makes it look blue, but in reality, there isn’t any. It’s a medium grass green shade that applied smoothly but was not opaque enough for my liking. This was three coats.

A comparison with OPI Jade is the New Black (two coats) on my second and third fingers. What can I say? JITNB is love.

Revlon Copperglaze Platinum

A classic Revlon shade. This is a muted metallic bronze that looks nearly nude in direct sunlight (first picture) and takes on a darker cast in low light (second picture). Not my cup of tea, but is a great work-friendly alternative to creme nudes.

This took three coats to go opaque and had some slight bubbling issue. I’m not sure if it was the formula or because I was too impatient to let the layers dry before the next.

OPI Miso Happy With This Color

Cheryl’s nails, 2 coats, iPhone picture

2 coats, artificial light

OPI Miso Happy With This Color was released in 2005 as part of the Japanese collection and has now been discontinued. My friend managed to unearth one in Raffles Place. A pink-based nude with slight lilac undertones, this was three coats and still very streaky. The interesting thing about this colour is that it turns up a beige-nude on my friend, but looks very pink on me.

To add a little kick to this tame colour, I added Zoya Charla on the tips. Zoya Charla is part of the 2010 Sparkle collection. According to Zoya’s website, “Zoya Nail Polish in Charla can be best described as: tropical blue sparkling metallic. An expensive-looking metallic shade for summer.”

This was also purchased at Raffles Place at a pushcart in Change Alley.

Cheryl’s nails, with pink glitter and jewels, artificial light

I think this is by far Cheryl’s favourite nail polish because she wears it all the time.