Bring a mani back from the dead!

After three good, long days of wear, I finally did have to admit to some noticeable chipping on the tips and dulling of my top coat from my beloved Wet n Wild Haze of Love mani. (I won't blame this on Wet n Wild--polishes never last long on my claws. I may be a wild woman myself, or maybe I just need a better base coat!)

Wet n Wild Haze of Love on my nails, with noticeable chipping

However, being the stubborn girl I am, I wasn't yet ready to part with all of that basework I'd done--one layer of base coat, two layers of color, and all that drying time.

I decided this would be an excellent opportunity to play around with a recently acquired polish--my very first indie, in fact!

Say hello to Feenix Polish Embers.

Embers has a brown sheer, jelly-like base with red, orange, and silver micro-glitters. I suspect it takes its name from the embers of a fire--because that's exactly what it looks like on the nails! It can be layered and worn on its own, but I prefer it as a top coat over a dark base, and that's exactly what you'll see here!

Something I love about densely-packed glitter polishes is how well they work at covering bald spots on the nails. Glitter polishes alone are known for chipping even more than, say, cream or regular jelly polishes, but the great thing about them is how easy they are to touch up (or to be used as touch-ups!). Just paint back over the chipped spots, and it's pretty difficult to tell you were ever there a second (or third!) time.

As you can see way above, I only had major chipping on one nail, so I decided to do glitter accent nails, including the nail that had chipped, and touch up the remaining nails with new layers of top coat. This was the result:

Wet n Wild Haze of Love on all nails,
with Feenix Polish Embers as top coat on middle two

I just wish I had better photos to illustrate exactly how the glitters of Embers look on the nails!

The most important thing? No chips to be seen here! My mani was able to last me until the end of the week, and Embers gave it that little extra oomph that made it just a little more interesting.

If you're interested in Embers, you can check it out (as well as many other polishes) at Feenix Polish on Etsy. I was generously supplied with my bottle free of charge, thanks to a giveaway I won at Chestnut Mocha. (Thank you to Ben and Katie of CM and Suzette of Feenish Polish!)

Do you have any emergency mani tips or tricks?

Nail polish collective mini-haul

When the seasons "officially" transition, it doesn't always feel right away like the season it's supposed to be—not to me, anyway (thanks, global warming!). However, with the sudden onslaught of fall (and I do mean that I've very suddenly felt assaulted by autumn winds on my morning walks to class), I've been lemming for some more fall-appropriate shades to add to my polish collection.

Here are the ones I've picked up recently:

L-R: butter LONDON Scoundrel, Revlon Top Speed Lily,
L'Oréal Colour Riche Red Tote, L'Oréal Colour Riche Charmed I'm Sure,
Essie Sole Mate

Unless you're completely color blind, you've probably noticed that one of these things is not like the other. I wouldn't exactly consider Revlon Lily a fall shade, but a polish I've seriously had my eye on for ages (ages) is Barry M. Berry Ice Cream. I'm trying to squash that lemming, I accumulated O.P.I. Lucky Lucky Lavender, which is GORGEOUS but also not exactly how I imagine the color. I am in no way insinuating that Lily and Berry Ice Cream are all too similar, either, but where Lucky Lucky Lavender pulls very pink, Lily is such a blue-toned lilac that it's nearly periwinkle. I suppose that Berry Ice Cream falls somewhere between those two shades, and until I'm magically transported to the U.K. and Barry M. cosmetics become available to me or I work up the guts to pay combined product and shipping costs of nearly $15 for a drugstore polish, these two will have to suit my lavender/lilac fancy!

L-R: O.P.I. Lucky Lucky Lavender, Revlon Top Speed Lily

Barry M. Berry Ice Cream, Source: Dr. Frankenpolish

Scoundrel is my first polish from butter LONDON. I've worn it once, and, so far, I'm impressed with the application, but I didn't find it to be superior to other brands, in general, in regards to chipping. If I had a do-over, I might have gone with butter LONDON Toff instead of Scoundrel. Toff is more of a dusty purple, while Scoundrel is just a deep purple. Toff seems like a good fall shade and, perhaps, a tad more neutral, although, all the same, Scoundrel may work for me across more seasons.

butter LONDON Scoundrel on my nails (2 coats, no top coat)

butter LONDON Toff (2 coats), Source: Amarixe

As for the L'Oréal polishes, I'm highly impressed with the formulation. The application and wear aren't bad at all for drugstore polishes. Red Tote is probably my favorite of the tested and recently purchased polishes in my collection. Charmed, I'm Sure, however, was a minor disappointment. It's not a unique shade--a metallic rose gold--but, unlike many others I've seen swatched, is very, very frosty in any lighting, which affects the color too much for my taste. On the nails, it's even lighter than it is in the bottle, so if you're considering this shade, ...you've been forewarned.

L-R: L'Oréal Colour Riche Red Tote, L'Oréal Colour Riche Charmed I'm Sure

I haven't yet tried Essie Sole Mate, but I'm generally quite a fan of Essie, and I've been lemming for a plum/burgandy polish for quite some time, so I'm definitely looking forward to trying this one out! Perhaps, I'll post some swatches once I've done that.

What are your recent polish purchases? What are your favorite shades for fall?