Saturday, August 31, 2013

"Oh green world" - a study in verde!


Rich, shimmery and beautiful - I love verdant greens. Today I thought I would share four of my favorites with you! 
Let's just dive right in, shall we?

Since I was a child, dragons have always been my favorite creature. I used to spend hours drawing and reading books about them, so you can imagine my joy when my son was born in the year of the dragon! When I saw this complex green was named Dragon, I knew I had to get my hands on it. Thankfully the A England restocks are not too cut throat! 


The formula is truly exquisite, with no flooding and a real ease of application. It dries quickly and smoothly, with no brush strokes visible despite the heavy pigmentation. Cleanup was a breeze too! If you are inside you get a deep lovely shimmer, with a sort of inner light. As soon as a bit of strong light hits your nails, you get a wonderful linear holo effect! Seriously, if you love greens and holos, you NEED this polish!! 



Next is Zoya "Ivanka", a glittery, vibrant green.


I would almost consider the pigments to be micro flecks in this gorgeous green polish. I love Zoya - the formulas are always fantastic and they manage to have some fairly unique colors and names for their large inventory. Cleanup is a little tricky, as you end up with a ton of green-silvery shimmery residue all over the place afterwards. I recommend two cottonballs - one for the initial clean off and one to clean the residue.



Jessie's Girl is a brand that they recently introduced at my local Rite-aid. It is a cheaper brand, comparable to Sinful colors, with some really pretty colors. When I saw this blue-green I knew I needed it, and was pleased to find it is unlike any of the other greens I had at home.


This polish almost wishes it was "Ivanka". Packed full of shimmery pigment, it has a subtle duo-chrome effect. Application was not as smooth or as nice but I knew I wasn't working with a Zoya here. It took some time to dry, and I still had a few issues with smudging even after using a fast dry top coat. I know polish has chemicals in it, but I think I have been spoiled by all these 3-free indies - look how long the list is on this retail polish! :o



If you have stuck with me this far, I saved one of my favorites for last. Nfu-oh continues to be one of my all-star brands, and I seriously wish I had every single one of them available. 


I applied this over Zoya "Ivanka", hoping the green shimmer would give it depth. The colors matched well, almost too well - I think a darker base is better for the Opal glitters so you can see the flake effect clearly. Still, this combination has an effervesence and I loved how it caught the light! My only problem is how long the Nfu- oh flakie formula can take to dry - I like 3 coats of any polish but you have to take extra time, even with seche, to avoid smudging.


Thanks for reading - hope four polishes weren't too many! Which of these were your favorite? Do you know of a green I should try out? Please feel free to comment!

LINKS:

A England "Dragon"
Nfu-oh #56
Zoya "Ivanka"
Jessie's girl "Glee" - available at Rite-Aid

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