I finally caved and used OPI Done Out In Deco. Opaque in two coats, and a lovely muted light/med. purple creme.  Perfect for spring, flattering, and muted enough not to draw undue attention to itself. It's pretty, the formula's great, and it dries quickly. What's not to like?

NoTE-Tanzy

Zoya Tanzy with Black Shatter over it.

The overall effect is of a bronzey brown, when seen from a distance. I changed up my technique this time; using diagonal strokes on some nails, and an attempted swirl on one nail, which was a failure. The brush is too wide to get any sort of swirl going on my nails, which are rather petite. A nice way of saying I have skinny fingers. I like the diagonal; it's interesting.

I could probably get another couple days of wear out of this combo, but I'll be removing it tomorrow. Tanzy just isn't for me, and will be going into my "get rid of" pile.

Stopped by my fave local salon because they claimed they had the new OPI Silver Shatter, via Facebook. They didn't. They lied. I'm sad. They did have the entire Pirates collection, just not the shatter. "It's backordered." Bah!!

What color to wear next? Done Out In Deco or Ahoy!?

NoTE

New term: NoTE-Nail of The Evening, since I almost always polish in the evening, not the morning or afternoon.

Today's NoTE is Zoya Tanzy. It's sheer, with a pink coral base and tons of gold shimmer. When you let your nails catch the light, it transforms from a lovely coral to a dazzling golden orange. I'm not sure if I like this color, because I'm not a fan of orange. It's a nice change, however, from my preferred purples, grays, greiges, taupes, and pinks. Because this one is so sheer, I did four coats to get a good color. If you're so inclined, you might want to try five and see how saturated that gets, but I stopped at four.

The base on Tanzy is similar to, but lighter than, the base for Rica. Apple's base is a lovely aqua/turquoise. I wish Zoya would develop these base colors on their own. They'd make great jellies, I think.

I was really enjoying MAC Blue India still, but my  nails had several run ins with the cheese grater this evening. After that, it was time to change the polish. I think I did a great job on application this time. I took my time and was careful to not push up against the cuticle like I usually do. I need to be more patient every time and not just slap polish all over everything near me. Ha!

MAC Blue India. Again. I spent the last couple days wearing stupid colors. Zoya Dharma, then Laurie. I hate them. They're fine if you like sheer colors, but I don't. I need to SEE color on my nails, and those two were NOT cutting it, so late last night/early this morning I put Blue India on. I love this color, and it seems right for the weather.  We have spring weather, but it's also overcast quite a bit, so the teal blue fits. It was either this or OPI Done Out In Deco, which I also love.  Now if I could just find a quick dry top coat that doesn't shrink my polish, I'd be thrilled. :/

NoTD-Franken

Some time ago I frankened a nail polish. What that means, for those who don't know, is mixing a bit of this color, a bit of that color, and coming up with a new color. I wanted to create the perfect light purple shimmer, which no one makes.  I mixed 4 or 5 colors together, but it was never just right, so I gave up. Feeling utterly bored with the polishes I have, I thought it was high time I tried this one out. Because it was mixed in a Wet N Wild Crave bottle, there's not much, and the brush is really short and not very good. The poor brush resulted in a less than acceptable application. However, I'm intrigued by the color. I can't judge it fully in the light in here, but so far it's not bad.

Light purple/lilac, with a pearly shimmer finish. There's a blue/gray tone to it that's rather nice. I'm not sure if it's too pearly. Once I can see it in daylight I can judge it much better. Three coats for close to full opacity, due to the large amount of FingerPaints Private Collection in it.

So far I'm kinda liking it.

NoTD-Zoya Apple

Last night, despite feeling a little ill, I did my nails using Zoya Apple, a bright apple green, like its name.

One coat of Orly Bonder
FOUR coats of Apple
Zoya Armor
Qtica drying drops

Yeah, four coats of Apple. That's nuts. It's still not opaque, but I don't think anyone else will notice. I got tired of polish shrinkage with the fast dry top coats, which is why I chose to use the Armor/drying drops combo. Right away I can see a difference in glossiness. Armor isn't as thick and glossy as Poshe or Seche Vite.

The man does not like this color. I don't like its sheerness, but am not sure if I like the color.

Edited to add more info and further thoughts.
Apple's base color is a pretty turquoise shade. All the gold shimmer added turns it into that bright green you see in the pics. It's nice enough, but after two days, I got tired of it. I doubt it'll be a color I wear often, at all.

Using Armor with drying drops resulted in no shrinkage, but minimal shine. I did get less tip wear, but I'm not sure it was worth it, overall. I'll try it again with other Zoya colors.

NoTD-Petites Color Fever-Periwinkle

Thicker formula than Zoya; on a par with Nubar. *snicker* It's not too thick, but just right. Two coats for full opacity. Great self leveling. Periwinkle is a dusty blue with a slight grey tinge.  It reminds me of Zoya Kelly, but lighter, bluer, and softer. It's a nice color, and one I'll wear again, but  I have a few others I like much more.

I filed my nails down a lot this evening, using a fine grit emery board, so the tips are quite a bit thicker than they usually are, and I didn't wrap the tips, so I already see some of the nail tips. I'm not going to worry about it, since I fully expect to be sick as a dog when I get up some time on Saturday. Then again, I was sure that was going to happen today, so we'll see what happens.

I did want to mention one more thing: when I wore Zoya Reva, I wrapped the tips, and that really helped a lot with the longevity of the polish. It's a little difficult for me, because I tend to keep my nails fairly short, and there's not much room between the tip of the nail and the tip of my finger for a brush. I hate getting polish all over my skin, and clean up is a pain. Still, if I can get another day or two out of a mani, it might be worth it.

Zoya and Nubar

Zoya Reva: I wore this for about two days, with minor tipwear, mostly on my right hand. My right thumb took the brunt, as usual. Application was good. Zoyas have a rather thin formula, and this was no different. The color was a rich berry red, with lots of gold shimmer. In indoor light, the gold shimmer takes over and brings this polish close to real red. In outdoor lighting, the berry color is more prominent, and each shimmer particle reflects light, which dazzles the eye. It's amazing in sunlight, and has a lot of depth and complexity. The shimmer particles are actually gold, which you can see when you remove it. Many polishes seem like they have different color shimmers, but most are silver, which reflects the base color in interesting ways.  This one's not super unique, but it's a nice complement to the rest of the collection. I have Apple and Tanzy left.

Nubar Honeysuckle: Way brighter in person than in pictures. Almost a neon, really, it's that bright. This is my first Nubar, but I don't think it will be my last. The formula is thicker than Zoya or China Glaze, but not too thick. It flowed well on the nail, leveled well, and behaved perfectly. It wasn't perfectly opaque in two coats, but it was close. I didn't see a need for three. Drying time was average, and it handles fast dry top coats very well, with virtually no shrinkage, which is a problem with Zoya and those fast dry top coats.  After 24 hours, there was the most minor of tip wear, almost exclusively on my right thumb. Normally at that time, I would see visible, yet minor tip wear on my whole right hand. Today, coming up to the third day, I started to see some minor tip wear on my right hand, but nothing that prompted me to remove the polish. In fact, I was going to leave it on until tomorrow, but had to remove it today due to a very large piece of the polish on my right thumb simply flaking off, taking a bit of the surface of the nail with it, when I opened an envelope. Weird. I'm blaming the Orly Bonder for the missing nail surface.