The Trouble with Many Varnishes

Last week, I was awakened in the middle of the night by this thought:

You forgot to include two Barry M bottles in your oceania comparison.

[One reason is that they’re housed on their own floor in the varnish condo — all Brit nationals (Barry M, Nails Inc., Illamasqua, Butter London, Models Own, Eyeko, Rococo Nail Apparel) live squeezed together in harmony there, lol]

So here they are, better late than never, with Korean and Canadian buddies plucked during my intensive organizational spurt this past weekend.

Barry M Aquarium Collection Arabian, Barry M Aquarium Collection Pacific, Etude House Play Forest Aurora Collection 379, Joe Fresh Peacock/Vert Paon

Two coats each.

I was disappointed by both Barry M bottles — coverage was not smooth, to put it euphemistically.

Arabian, far left, was the worse of the two — I reluctantly edited the larger bumps and clumps from the chip.

Etude House never fails to deliver — I’m slowly but surely collecting every Forest Aurora member. Even the ones I hadn’t originally wanted based on stock photos turned out marvelously impressive in real life.

Just look at Joe Fresh Peacock — this one I actually find prettier on the chip than in the bottle, for once.

A la Essie Dive Bar, sans purple element, but not lacking in the least …

xx blueberry milk tea

Endless Summer: multichrome + metallic moody oceania

… for an equally moody teenager, despondent since waves can no longer be caught whilst sitting in a classroom …

Sinful Colors, in order of their emergence on the scene and into my varnish drawers:

Gorgeous – 293

Palm Breezy – 1407

Sheer Flight (opalescent) – 1517

Kylie (denim + bling duochrome) Kameleon – 2097

Maybelline Color Show Holographic (?!?) 25 – Mystic Green

Dance Legend Mystery Collection 6 – Ghost Inside

Dior Summer 2013 Bird of Paradise Samba duo – 794

OPI S/S 2015 Hawaii – This Color’s Making Waves

Revlon Chroma Chameleon Topaz

Maybelline Color Show 700 Avante Green

H&M Lady Luck

Impala Rebelde Tweet’s

Impala Trem da Vida Verde Passaro

All first shown here

Sephora 67 Moody Woman

Misa 271 The Great Green Whatsit

Peripera P027 Metallic Green

Anny 368 Hello Hollywood

Missha HGR01

NOPI Mer-maid for Each Other (swatched with next batch on separate nail wheel since I ran out of chips)

Initially shown here, but I had inadvertently deleted the photos due to running out of space and not knowing I could purchase more

All swatches are two coats.

I’ll label the above photos soon, when I’m not so tired out!

NOPI Mer-maid for Each Other

Ulta Jaded

GOSH Golden Dragon

Maybelline Be Scene in Green

Ulta, GOSH and Maybelline were originally shown in this post, but those photos suffered the same ignominious fate as my other early efforts …

Dear BB, may you look back on your summer surf excursions with the same bittersweet nostalgia I feel upon plucking these oceanic beauties from their drawer … when every trip to the drugstore was an absolute delight, as the market was exploding with multichromes several years back — just as I had lost my job with scarce to no pocket money to spend on these little bottles of liquid gems. Fortunately, I had made wonderful international connections via a shared varnish passion, and many generous ladies granted my every wish and more. In spite of my long spell of unemployment, I had begun to fill my treasure chest with gifts of multi-coloured jewels, which I now share with a small world of like-minded souls. Your tribe is out there awaiting your return to the shared element, my love.

xx blueberry milk tea

Collections: off-season theme with variations

From Chanel Fashion Night Out, Fall 2012

Kure Bazaar random trio, culled from my collection

So Vintage, Tea Rose, Phenomenal

Kiko Milano gorgeous random quint, plucked from my collection

366 Rose Terracotta, 375 Bois de Rose, 379 Eggplant, 486 Tea Rose, 499 Dahlia Mauve

From L’Oreal Fall 2015 Chateau Royale

Five of the seven members: 203 Wine Spritzer, 205 High Spirits, 207 Pinot Purple, 211 Sangria Splash, 213 Pass the Vino

All nail wheel swatches in this post, 3x each

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xx blueberry milk tea

slideshow background is “The Captive” from Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust, Vintage Books edition copyright February 1970, translated by C.K. Scott Moncrieff

Final final: am I pink or am I peach?

Finishing up. This series has been lollygagging and getting shuffled around for some time until I could find some nail wheels in stock at the local beauty supply…

Meanwhile, I got my paws on American Apparel Dance from the shop on Grant Avenue in San Francisco, so it got bumped to the front of the line. 🙂

It is triple-digit weather these days, since summer solstice.

Two coats on the nail wheel + intense heat + blast of air conditioning = horrid application!

Enlightening nonetheless, no? Swatching makes me wonder what I was thinking, as the colours appear so very different from their bottle shades.

xx blueberry milk tea

Dusty surprises ft. Uslu Airlines NIM – Niamey

Am I grey or am I blue? Or greygreen-bluegray? Lol!

Take a gander below:

What say you?

L to R in lineup and on nail wheel:

Essie Parka Perfect
Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Grey Matters

Essie Truth or Flare (bluest of the tribe)
Sinful Shine Blue Suede Shoes

Urban Outfitters Barstool
Uslu Airlines NIM Niamey

All are initially two coats on the nail wheel.

I later added a third to Truth or Flare and Barstool, as they were very sheer formulae in comparison to the others.

(They look and feel like jellies/crellies but haven’t done my homework down computer way re these two…)

Wondering if MAC Blue India and Catrice Big City Life New York would fit here… although they seem like dusty yet definitive blues.

(Doubt I will ever see Blue India and New York in real life…)

Uslu Airlines NIM is such a shade-shifter. At times grey, greygreen, bluegray, dusty bluegreen…

xx dusty blueberry milk tea

Again, am I pink or am I peach?

1 – Orly Sweet Collection 2010 – Cotton Candy

2 – Essie Bridal 2014 – Love Every Minute

3 – Essie Resort 2015 – Stones n Roses

4 – SH XW Electric Summer 2014 LE – Peach Babe

5 – China Glaze Spring 2015 Road Trip – Pinking Out the Window

6 – OPI Coca-Cola Collection – Sorry I’m Fizzy Today

All swatches 3x.

These are pinker-leaning than the next (and final) batch posing the pink or peach question.

The third lineup in the series will lean peachier orange, but still retains that pinky sumpin’ sumpin’ that keeps your eyeballs guessing (and staring at your nails)…

xx blueberry milk tea