I Went on a Nail Polish Rampage: Haul & Reviews

So, I have a story for you. A few months ago, during Christmas break, I went through my nail polish collection and gave away a bunch of colors I didn't wear anymore and threw away some really old bottles. When I was doing that, I got rid of a lot of glitter nail polish and a lot of bright colors because, I thought "let's be real, I'm not going to wear any of these things anymore."

Guess who recently decided that they like glitter nail polish and bright colors?

-_- Me -_-

Anyway, I recently started to watch a lot of YouTube videos about nail polish and I got really excited about doing nails and, all of the sudden, I had to buy every nail polish in the world. I was like "oh no, I don't have any glitters! I don't have any holos! I only have three OPIs! I need to go buy everything!" So, basically I went on a nail polish binge -- or, as I like to call it, a nail polish rampage. I'm not proud of it, but my nails have been looking pretty awesome lately. In any case, I wanted to give you some brief reviews of these polishes.

Mermaid's Tale by Sally Hansen - This is the first polish of my glitter binge. I decided I needed a green/blue glitter topcoat and went on a quest to find it. I decided to purchase this one because Ulta was having a BOGO sale on Sally Hansen polishes and I thought the name was cute. It's a blue jelly base with green and blue hex glitter, and it's a great layering polish. You could probably also get it opaque in 2-3 coats, but I prefer to use it to layer. It would probably be good for jelly sandwiches as well.

Mermaid's Tale as a Topcoat

Strobe Light by Sally Hansen - I purchased this because I heard it was a dupe for OPI's Teenage Dream, which is a much sought after polish (also, because, when there's a BOGO, you have to get 2X the nail polish you intended). It's a clear base with pink microglitter. In retrospect, I don't think it's a dupe for Teenage Dream, but I like it anyway. It's a very delicate, girly polish, and it's good as a topper and probably would be good for jelly sandwiches as well.

Strobe Light as a Topcoat

Grape Shifter by Sally Hansen - I haven't quite gotten around to using this polish yet, but I can tell you that it's very pretty. It's a purple, bluish, reddish glitter top coat and I think it would look really pretty with a violet or blue cream polish underneath.

White Out by Sally Hansen - I bought this polish to do nail art. This is just a basic white, but it's very opaque and it covers well (I believe it's opaque in 2 coats). I've had this polish before, and it does tend to get a little thick over time, but it is very opaque and, for the price it's a great, basic white polish.

Passport to Happiness (Bridal Collection) by Essie - This is a polish from Essie's new Bridal Collection, and I bought from the Bridal Collection because I thought the Spring Collection was horrific this year! Fortunately, it looks like the Summer Collection will be better (stay tuned for that). This polish is a really pretty, delicate mint green with a very subtle shimmer. It's definitely a cute, feminine polish for Spring.

Passport to Happiness as a Base; Snow Blast as a Topcoat

Snow Blast Crackle Overcoat by Sally Hansen - A little while ago, I wrote a blog about how I wanted crackle coat nail polish to come back again and I went on a quest to find and buy crackle coat nail polish. Well, this is a crackle coat nail polish and I like it a great deal. It's just a basic white, but it crackles well and it looks very nice over a bunch of different colors of polish. Obviously this is a layering polish, so you can do a bunch of different looks with it. It is a little difficult to get a hold of it though; I bought mine from Amazon.  

Eternal Beauty by Color Club - Not gonna lie, this is my first holo nail polish and I love it. If you don't know, holo nail polish has a holographic color shift and it's really pretty. It's a little difficult to describe, but you can see it in the picture below. The description says it's pink, but it looks very purple to me. If you don't have any holo polishes, I highly suggest picking some up. A lot of brands make holo polishes, but Color Club has some really gorgeous shades. You can buy it from Color Club's website, Amazon, and Live Love Polish.

Eternal Beauty

Silver Shatter by OPI - This is another polish I haven't used yet, but it's basically a silver, metallic crackle coat nail polish. Obviously, it's a topcoat, but it would probably look really nice above a cream, pastel color. Again, the key to using topcoats is to use a thin coat of polish.

Shag by Butter London - As you can see, this is a nice metallic copper polish with reddish, brownish, orangish tones. I know it's currently spring, but I think it would be lovely for fall. As with all Butter London polish, the formula is amazing and chip resistant. I bought this polish on sale on Butter London's website in their clearance section, which I think means that it's no longer available. I buy most of my Butter London polishes on sale, so if you're interested in trying Butter London polishes in general, I highly recommend that you check out their clearance section. I don't think I've ever paid full price for a Butter London polish, and you shouldn't either -- even though I do think it's worth the money.

Shag

Goss by Butter London - Again, I haven't used this polish yet, but I'm confident that -- like all Butter London polishes -- it's going to have an amazing formula. It's sort of a gold, champagne shimmer polish, and in the bottle it looks like a more golden version of Shag. In terms of color, this is very neutral and elegant; I imagine you could easily wear it to work or something like that. Again, I bought it on clearance, so I'm not sure if you'll be able to find it. However, if you like the look of this polish, I recommend that you check out Butter London's All Hail the Queen.

Petrol by Butter London - Like the other Butter Londons on this list, I bought this on the clearance section of Butter London's website, so I don't think you can get it anymore. However, based on what I've seen online, Butter London's Knackered is a pretty decent dupe for this (except Knackered has some sort of micro glitter and this doesn't). This polish is a topcoat that shifts between blue, purple, and green, depending on the polish you have on underneath it. I tried it with a teal green, but I think it would look better with a lighter color. I will experiment and report back! Also, I'm guessing you could probably get this to be opaque in 3-4 coats; however, it's really designed to be a topcoat.

Petrol as a Topcoat; Four Leaf Clover as a Base

Four Leaf Clover by China Glaze - I bought this polish on the recommendation of MissHollyBerries on YouTube; she said this was one of her favorite greens and that she loved it for Spring. Plus, Ulta was having a sale on China Glaze. That's reason enough for me. Anyway, it's a really nice bright green teal and it's opaque in one coat. Enough said.

Fearlessly Alice (Alice Through the Looking Glass Collection) by OPI - I was very impressed with this polish; this was one of my favorite nail polishes that I bought this month. It's opaque in one coat and it's a beautiful, bright azure blue. It's not a very unique color, but it is very bright and the formula is super good -- I get so excited when things are opaque in one coat.

Nail Art with White Out' Fearlessly Alice as a Base

The I's Have It (Alice Through the Looking Glass Collection) by OPI - This is a very cute, pale, powder blue. Like, Fearlessly Alice it has a nice formula, and it's opaque in two coats. Again, this isn't the most unique color, but it's a nice basic if you don't already have a color like this in your collection.

The I's Have It

I Am What I Amethyst (Soft Shades Collection) by OPI - Not gonna lie, I haven't used this polish yet, so I can't really speak to the formula. However, I can say that it's an extremely unique color. It's sort of blue, it's sort of violet, and it's very pastel. It's a regular cream polish, but I'm super excited to use it, maybe with a nice glitter top coat.

Princess Tears by A England - It's hard to describe how pretty this polish is; it's a silvery polish with pink and purple undertones and a scattered holographic. I would say that it's a fun polish, while also being classy and elegant. It's super shiny and glossy, especially in direct sunlight (which, unfortunately didn't translate to the picture).

Princess Tears

Galahad by A England - This was the first A England polish I picked; it's a greenish blue teal cream. I know that a lot of people buy St. George as their first A England polish, but when I saw this polish, I knew I had to have it. It's opaque in one coat and it covers gorgeously. I know that there are lots of teal polishes out there, but I think this one gives me a little something extra, plus the formula is amazing.

Galahad as a Base; Dripped in Diamonds as a Topcoat

Perceval by A England - This is another polish I haven't gotten a chance to use yet (don't you hate it when silly things like school work gets in the way of painting your nails :p).However, I simply couldn't pass this polish up. It's a shimmery, brilliant red that just screams glamour. Honestly, I don't usually wear red polish, and I think it's gorgeous, so you know it's something special.

Dripped in Diamonds by Femme Fatale - I cannot describe to you how gorgeous this polish is. It is a super shimmery, glitter top coat with a clear base, silver hex glitter, and purple/pink micro glitter. The name is very appropriate, it looks like you have crushed diamond on your fingers. Femme Fatale is an indie nail polish brand (from Australia! Go koalas!), so it is a little more difficult to find and it is a little more expensive. But, to my mind, it's well worth the money. Also, I believe this polish is limited edition, so, if you want it, get it sooner rather than later.

Note: I'm not assigning numerical values to these ratings because it's very difficult to compare nail polishes that are meant for different looks and styles. For example, some polishes are meant to be sheer, but if a cream polish was sheer, that would be bad. Also, there's a lot of variation in what people like in terms of formula (thick formula vs thin formula, etc.).