Black Tie Optional in Turquoise & Caicos!

I purchased both of the polishes for my current manicure this week and they've both been on my wishlist for awhile.

I took advantage of my $5.50 CVS reward bucks to buy Essie's Turquoise & Caicos. It is priced at $8.29 at CVS. I also saw it at Walmart for $7.75.

Although I have a few similar colors, they are all just different enough for T & C to be a fantastic addition to my collection. It's a beautiful creamy turquoise, just the right mix of blue and green. It applied perfectly, opaque in only two light coats. (Although looking at it in the sun, I probably could have used another coat.)

My second purchase was Hard Candy's Black Tie Optional. It was love at first sight after seeing swatches by several nail bloggers. It took forever for my neighborhood Walmart to stock the new Hard Candy collection. I was very happy to see this one restocked today, and at just $4.00, I had to take it home with me. I love it just as much on my nails as I did on the various swatches! It features small, medium, & large white and black hex, black bars, and tiny and small black & white rounds. 

BTO will look incredible over any color. I paired it with Turquoise & Caicos today and it is every bit as fantastic as I expected! One accent nail (one coat) with Sally Hansen Hard as Nails crystal clear over all. 

 

That One Nail Polish - Custom Color!

I was really excited to find a mystery package in my mailbox Friday. I hadn't ordered anything recently, so I had no clue what it could be. But then I remembered Nik saying earlier in the week that she couldn't wait for me to get some mail. Turns out that she worked with Roxette at www.thatonenailpolish.com to create a custom polish for the both of us!

This polish is inspired by Nik's and my coordinating chevron aprons by Butterfly Designs. Here I am modeling mine. Nik's is the same except for the trim--she chose turquoise.

The polish base is a fantastic gunmetal gray and it features small, hexagonal turquoise, silver, and yellowish-gold glitters as well as larger hexagonal silver glitter. When I first opened the bottle, I was a bit worried about how thick the polish seemed to be. But worry not, it went on very easily!  Glitter distribution is amazing-one of the best I've come across! The color coverage isn't bad, just a little thin for my liking. That said, next time I use it, I do plan to put it over a dark gray polish, just to see if it brings out the glitters any more.

(pardon my crappy pictures...as usual, I'm using my iPhone. Note to self: buy a battery for your good camera!!)

My only complaint--it's really difficult to remove. The color came off easily, but the glitter is a different story, even with acetone polish remover. Actually, it's still on my nails. I'll have to try again to remove it. While that's more a rant about glitter polish in general, this one is proving especially difficult to get off...I guess it's time to finally try the foil method I found on Pinterest some time ago!

complete with cotton ball fuzz

All in all, I'm really happy with this polish & have my eye on a few others in Roxette's collection! Go check it out and give That One Nail Polish a try!