2013 Fave - Getting Warm With It

Today's post is later than usual because my sis-in-law came over to cut the kids hair and I ended up giving her a pedicure, painting my 3 yr-old nephew's toes and stamping little dragons on his thumbs.  Every time he comes over, he asks me to paint his toes and I am only happy to oblige.  I pick out a few darker, more masculine colors and let him pick what he wants.  Tonight he chose I Love Nail Polish Fresh Evergreen, a glorious green holo that you will see in the green faves soon.  His toes are soooo tiny and he is an active 3 yr-old boy, but he usually stays still and waits patiently for them to dry.  I always have to take pics and plan on posting a "My Nephews Nails" collage soon!

Enough auntie gushing, lets get to today's faves!  This collection of faves includes yellow, orange and corals, the warm colors, and only contains 4.  It was going to be 5 but when I went to swatch one of my choices, I realized that it didn't really deserve to be in my faves after all (because of application issues).  Don't you hate it when a polish looks perfect on your swatch wheel and then you go to apply it on your nails and it fails to deliver?  Argh!  I am sure I could have found another coral that deserved the spot, but I decided to just leave it at 4 to maintain a little sanity.

Just a reminder.  I always paint to opacity and then add one more coat for the macro pics.  In other words, when it says I used 3 coats, you can usually achieve "in real life opacity" at 2 coats.  In no particular order:

With Flash

Artificial Light

Orly Melodious Utopia - 4 coats
I am starting with my least favorite color to wear, yellow.  I don't think it is flattering and makes my skin look sickly.  That being said, I love this pink shimmer filled butter yellow.  Unlike most yellows, it does not apply streaky, but it is very sheer.  This is one that WILL need 3 coats unless you like VNL.  It was a bit of cuticle flooder, but had a nice self leveling formula.  Despite its flaws (one being that it is yellow), who cannot love a polish named Melodious Utopia!  You can see nail art with Melodious Utopia HERE.

With Flash

Artificial Light

Maybelline High Style Sienna - 2 coats
This was one of several that I purchased from the Vintage Leather collection.  I never saw swatches of this collection on the many blogs I follow, so when I saw them at my local CVS, I snatched them up, thinking that this perfect for me, a matte finish filled with flakies.  To be honest, this was the only one I liked out of all the ones I purchased.  The formula on all of them was thick, quick drying and difficult to work with.  I love quick drying formulas, but not the ones that dry while you are still applying the polish to a single nail.  Despite not liking the formula, High Style Sienna won me over with its rich color and uncommon finish.  It is a matte brick orange filled with matte glass flecks.  Nothing in my stash can even begin to compare to it and the unique finish is just plain inspired.  When I wear this, I channel my inner mother goddess, all I need is some ivy in my hair (tee hee).  Doesn't it look like I have terracotta nails?

   

 
As a bonus, here is some nail art using High Style Sienna that never got posted.  You can see here what it looked like top coated.  The color became much brigher and the matte glass flecks lost some of their impact.  You can click on the pic to see what I mean.  I personally didn't like it with topcoat, but then again, I am a matte lover.

With Flash

Artificial Light

China Glaze Mimosas Before Mani's - 2 coats
Yep, that is really how they spell this!  This is the only coral that made it to my faves list, although I accumulated more than a handful this year.  I have said it before...I am a coral ho, putting it out there for every coral I see.  MBM, however, is unmatched in my coral stash.  It is a lovely, creamy coral filled with a subtle gold shimmer that I just couldn't capture on my nails, but you can see it in the bottle in the bottom pic.  It is very faint, but it gives this coral an orange lean and adds a refined depth to the finish.  Plus, although it looks a bit crellie in my pics, this baby is solid!  If you are heavy handed with your coats, you probably could get away with one!  It also has that "this is where you want me, so I will stay right here" attitude in application that isn't found very often with corals.  Love it!

With Flash

Artificial Light

  
Sinful Shine Patent Pleasure - 3 coats
Patent Pleasure wins 1st place in this collection because of it's inspired color.  It was so difficult to capture its beauty and I feel that I haven't done it justice in my pics,  See, It not only is a high shine and agreeable shade of orange, it is also filled with a duochrome gold/lime shifting shimmer.  I could only catch the gold shift with my camera, but believe me, the green shimmer is stunning!  What could be better than an orange with a green shimmer?  Well, a lot of things actually, but this does make my heart go pitter pat.  You can see nail art with Patent Pleasure HERE.

So there you have my picks for my least favorite category.  At least you got some nail art in there to keep you interested.  Do you like yellows and oranges?  How many corals do you have in your collection?  Let me know your opinion of my pics!