Essie - All Eyes on Nudes (Cashmere Matte Collection, spring 2015)

Wow, it took me quite a while to get to my blog again......
There is a lot going on in my life at the moment and there are just not enough hours in a day to do all the things I would like to do! I need to find a time and place in my schedule to make a blogpost once in a while.

On with the blogging then:
Essie Cashmere Matte Collection was a much anticipated collection for me: I found the matte-shimmer combination very intriguing. Why did I start with All Eyes on Nudes you will ask, which contains no shimmer what so ever; I was in need of a very neutral neutral I guess.
All Eyes on nudes is a camel-hued neutral tone that, according to Essie, reveals nothing but the effortless chic of a classic trench. That trench coat I can see that.....the camel has a hint of khaki in it somewhere that makes the café au lait a bit less soft.

The formula was very hard to handle, it is thick and dries lightning fast so I needed three coats to get it leveled out and even then I was not happy with the result and I added Matte About You to make the surface a bit more smooth (kind of ridiculous to add a matte topcoat to a matte polish).

Essie - All Eyes on Nudes

After a day or two the hazy softness of the matte had worn off and was replaced with a kind of greasy shine (not nice. That is when I decided to slap a layer of shine on it: I choose China Glaze II (X Anniversary, autumn 2007) for the job. I really loved the result. II has a lovely subtle rose gold shimmer and is fairly translucent so it complimented AEON beautifully.

Essie - All Eyes on Nudes & China Glaze - II

I did also a little comparison between Orly Dare to Bare, Essie All Eyes on Nudes, Zoya Avery and China Glaze II. The Orly has a bit more pink in the base, Zoya does not have that hint of khaki (but is very close in colour) and the China Glaze is way more yellow (and has the shimmer and the translucency).

Orly - Dare to Bare, Essie - All Eyes on Nudes, Zoya - Avery & China Glaze - II

All in all I think if you have the Zoya then don't bother with the Essie just put some matte top coat over Avery and you're done (no frustrating formulas and probably a much smoother result)!

Orly - First Blush (Blush Collection, Spring 2014)

Polish on holiday number 11:

Orly Dare To Bare, was wearing so good that it stayed on my nails forever. It needed it little change, so I took a friend from the collection: First Blush, a strawberry pink or strong pink leaning muted red.
These two colours go very good together, so I tried a colour block with this one. I like it better without the extra thin stripe though (like I did with Essie Blanc and Funky Limelight). But the result was not bad I guess....

Orly - First Blush

First Blush is very good self leveling and with one coat this result was created.
I'm curious to see First Blush on it's own, it's a very juicy colour but it *might*  be a tiny bit matronly....

Orly - Dare To Bare (Blush Collection, Spring 2014)

Polish on holiday number 10:

I'm really loving my neutrals these days, but I was a little hesitant about this one...I feared lobster hands....
But Dare To Bare works for me >YEAH< no lobster hands and this very gorgeous and fresh neutral is my new friend!
The colour I would describe as a pink leaning putty/neutral, it is not warm leaning nor cold leaning...it's just neutral. Very wearable for all kinds of skintones!

Orly - Dare To Bare

This was three coats, but you can get away with two if you're careful. I used the Orly Polishield fast drying top coat with this one and I had no chips or significant wear for the longest time.
Drying time is a bit longer then when you use Poshé but the result was very glossy and durable.