My 10 Most Worn Nail Polishes

I was inspired by an older post of Liz's to do a little round-up of my most worn nail polishes for your viewing pleasure. In my post, I'm actually guided more by the actual usage than instant likes or dislikes and chose bottles where the level of polish was the lowest, which is a combination of a couple factors: how long I've had the bottle, and how many times I've worn a particular shade.

I was quite surprised at some of these - off the top of my head, I didn't think they were my most worn polishes, and one of these I actually disliked quite a bit when I first got it; but anyway, let's get on with it. In no particular order:

Neutrals: OPI Don't Burst My Bubble (more photos here, swatch here) & Orly Rage (a close-up shot here, partial swatch here).
I don't really like nude and neutral nails - they just don't hold my interest for very long, on top of it being very difficult to find a nude that doesn't give me mannequin hands. But OPI Don't Burst My Bubble is such a very, very light pink that it does stand out against my fair skin, and gives a nice, semi-sheer, glossy nude look to my nails. I also like it as a base for a couple glitter toppers from my stash. I also don't wear metallics very often, but love the foiled rose gold of Orly Rage. Both of these have the added benefit on not showing tip wear too badly, so I especially like them for traveling.

Pastels: China Glaze Lemon Fizz (swatched here and here), Essie Bikini So Teeny (another swatch here), OPI You're Such A Budapest (swatched here), Essie Splash of Grenadine (swatched here and here).

Wearing two coats of Zoya Mosheen on top of Bikini So Teeny on the ring finger.

I didn't expect there to be so many pastels among my most worn shades, but I guess I really like pastels? Any shade with a white base looks good on my skintone, actually. I pull out China Glaze Lemon Fizz every year around Easter, which would have been the fourth time this April - I just can't think of a better early spring cheery manicure shade. I wear both Bikini So Teeny and OPI You're Such A Budapest from spring well into summer; you can see in the photos that they're not miles apart, but You're Such A Budapest pulls more lilac. I've had Essie's Splash of Grenadine for four years now too, long before it was made popular by Estee from Essie Button. It's a fantastic purple pink that's not too girly; the white base in this shade causes the shade to look more muted than pastel. A firm favorite for both fingers and toes.

Corals and Reds: Wibo Express Growth no. 328 (an older swatch here; the most similar shade that's readily available worldwide would be OPI Hot & Spicy), Essie Cute as a Button (more photos here), Barry M Raspberry (another photo here, used in a manicure here; the closest shade that's available in the US would be China Glaze Merry Berry, which I own as a back-up), New York Color Manhattan (I haven't seen this shade around in a while, so the closest match would be OPI In The Cable Car-Pool Lane).

Wearing two coats of Maybelline Color Show Jewels in Precious Pearl on the ring finger.

Ok, so the Polish brand Wibo no. 328 isn't exactly a coral: it's like a muted apricot cream. It looks a bit more orange in my swatches, but it's a bit more neutral, with a delightful dusky quality. When I first bought this (maybe three or four years ago in Poland), I absolutely hated the application and wasn't convinced about the shade. But I've since learnt not to keep it out when it's very hot, and I find myself craving this apricot every summer without fail. I was surprised not to find any swatches of Essie Cute as a Button on my blog, but it's another staple polish for spring and summer, and I love it for pedicures.

Wearing OPI Polka.com glitter topcoat on the ring finger

Now, the Barry M Raspberry is possibly the oldest polish in my stash - I want to say it's 5+ years? And while it's still usable, especially with some nail polish thinner, I know it's nearing the end of its days. Raspberry is my favorite classic cool-toned berry red; not a terribly unique shade, but looks great on my skintone, and the formula is spot on. The same can be said about the New York Color Quick Dry Nail Polish in Manhattan; just the perfect balance of berry purple and red, vampy and dark, but not as dark as to look black on the nails.

What shades would make the cut in your most worn round-up?

At the Breaking Point: TRIND Keratin Treatment for Nails

The last you've seen my nails, I (and they) were literally at the breaking point; first, I noticed tiny little cracks at the sides of my thumb, index and middle fingers, then there were bigger cracks, annoyingly starting to catch in my hair and on every item of clothing, and then one day, I was opening a tricky cupboard and SNAP! One of my nails completely broke off, and I'm not gonna lie, it did really hurt - and not just my vanity.

I'm not exactly sure what did my nails in this time: in the past, my nails would break a lot from doing housework (soaking in water), but since a big eczema flare-up on my hands a couple years ago, I don't touch any dishes or damp sponges without my trusty rubber gloves. My mom thinks the breakage comes from wearing nail polish all the time, even though I always, always apply nail strenghtener as my base coat. I think that maybe my attempts at an almond shape, coupled with the length of my nails at the time, caused them to be more fragile over time. At any rate, the opportunity to road test the new TRIND Keratin Treatment for Nails* ($45.95 for 2 x 0.3 fl. oz/ 9 ml) could not have come at a better time - so thank you, Trind!

The Keratin Treatment is a duo of Keratin Nail Restorer and Keratin Nail Protector (also available separately) in a handy little kit: 'With the Trind Keratin Nail Treatment kit we provide a chemical free solution for thin, brittle and chipped nails. It is a mild solution that treats the most sensitive nails that have been damaged by wearing artificial nails or from the use of medicines or other environmental influences.' (from the brand's website)

The Keratin Nail Restorer, which is the first step of the treatment, is a baby pink-tinged thin gel you apply directly on the nails, and wait for it to absorb/dry before the next step. The Nail Restorer is quite a watery product with a pleasant fresh scent that reminds me of a serum for your nails - it hydrates the nails and strenghtens with the keratin, and it can be reapplied as often as needed on bare nails. In fact, Trind recommends using the Restorer daily, sealing it in with the Protector, and then removing everything and repeating the process the next day, however my favorite way of using the Keratin Nail Restorer was to apply it at bedtime, and then again before doing a weekly manicure.

The second step, the Keratin Nail Protector, is more like your standard nail strenghtener; it aims to seal in the moisture from the Nail Restorer and protect your nails against damage. I've used it both on its own (it goes on clear and gives the nails a nice glossy sheen) and as a base coat for my nail polish.

I've been testing the TRIND Keratin Treatment Kit for two months now, and I'm happy to say that my nails are back to their regular strong selves - no breakage in sight! Since I started using the system, I haven't experienced any new cracks on the sides of my nails, and I've also had less peeling on the tips as well. I can't say that I've noticed my nails getting any thicker, but my nails are naturally quite thick, strong and not very flexible (kind of like claws - you get the picture).

While I can definitely say that the Keratin Nail Protector stops any discoloration or stains from nail polishes, it unfortunately does not protect from mild peeling on the surface on the nails that I always get from wearing glitter nail polishes - but I honestly haven't found anything that does.  In terms of how the Trind kit fares compared to OPI Nail Envy and Nail Tek Hydration Therapy III, my other strenghteners of choice, I feel that the Trind duo keeps my nails more hydrated than both, thus preventing painful breakage. I've used the kit both with Trind Caring Colors as well as nail polishes from other brands, and the results are pretty much the same.

Along the Keratin Treatment, I also received a bottle of Trind's Extra Mild Nail Polish Remover* ($9 for 4.23 fl. oz/ 125 ml). Its gentle formula feels more moisturizing than my regular green OPI nail polish remover and removes cream and shimmer formulas without a problem, but it's definitely not strong enough to tackle glitter, which is expected in an acetone-free formula. While I like this remover, I'm not as impressed with it as with the Keratin Treatment.

All in all, I think the TRIND Keratin Treatment for Nails is a very effective strenghtener, although I do wish the price point wasn't as high - especially as the bottles only contain 0.3 fl. oz/9 ml of product versus the usual 0.5 fl. oz/15 ml. What is your favorite nail treatment? Do you use it as base coat or only wear it on manicure breaks?

*Disclaimer: The products marked with an asterix (*) are press samples I received from the brand's PR for review consideration. All links are non-affiliate. All opinions are 100% honest and unbiased, no matter if the products featured were purchased with my own monies or provided as free press samples. Thank you for reading!

Top 10 Beauty Products Under $6

Yeah yeah, I know - six dollars is kind of a random price. Why not good ol' five bucks? Because, my dear smartypants, kindly observe that there's some sort of beauty product pricing policy in place that makes brands always charge just a little bit over $5; like maybe in our make-up obsessed minds, $5.99 is actually close to five bucks, so we happily spend the extra $1?! I  don't know - I don't make the rules. Under six dollars it is. So, in no particular order:

1. INM Out The Door Fast Drying Topcoat ($4.95 for 0.5 fl. oz/15 ml) I've used Seche Vite, I've used Sally Hansen, Essie, OPI - I really tried my fair share, and Out The Door is the only one I've repurchased. Mostly, because it's inexpensive and works just as well as the rest - and gets gloopy slightly less quickly than the others. I could always find it in Bartell's Drugs in WA, but haven't tracked it down yet in NY; you could always order online, especially that Amazon has some giant sizes of this for much less per ounce.

2. Epic Blend Hemp Lip Balm in Coconut* ($3.49 for 0.15 oz /4.2g) I hadn't used stick lip balms in a while, but they're an absolute make-up bag essential - and you can't go wrong with the mineral oil- and paraben-free Epic Blend Lip Balms. I was sent the entire range of 12 balms to try, and from the three varieties they offer (Hemp, Vegan and More Moisture) the Hemp ones were my favorite, especially the Coconut and Vanilla scents - yum. I find that the Hemp range applies easily on the lips but has a slightly heavier consistency than the Vegan and More Moisture balms, which makes them last better on my dry lips. My mom's favorite was the More Moisture Lip Balm in Grape, which she liked for its lightweight, non greasy feel.

3. Essence Stay With Me Long Lasting Lip Gloss in Candy Bar ($2.99 for 0.13 fl. oz/ 4 ml, swatched and reviewed here). I still really, really like this lip gloss, and Candy Bar is such a beautiful coral shade. It's almost hard to believe that you can make such a great gloss for such a low price - and I actually can't believe how come they don't come in a huge variety of shades... I'm actually slightly worried that it's no longer available on Ulta's website - has anyone heard any rumors?

4. Fyrinnae Eye Shadow Minis ($2.25 per sample 1/3tsp, my notes on pressing and swatches here). Did I mention that not all my inexpensive finds are from the drugstore? Because sometimes you  need to go on a quest to find the really good ones - well, not really a quest, more like just shopping online. I've pressed my Fyrinnae loose eyeshadow samples into these dinky pans, and now I use them every time I do my make-up: their neutrals are so unique, the brights wonderfully complex, and the glitters... Oh, the glitters.

5. Yaby Eyeshadow Refills ($3.15 for 3g). Speaking of dinky eyeshadow pans, I also really enjoy using my Yaby eyeshadows in Antique and Pottery, swatched and reviewed here. So if you have an aversion to pressing pigments and can't deal with the little jars of Fyrinnae shadows, these Yaby ones are another great option - and they also have a good variety of neutral mattes.

6. Orly Mani Mini Nail Polishes ($3 for 0.18 fl. oz/5.7 ml). It seems like that these nail polish minis from Orly may not be the easiest to get hold of, but if you see some, grab a shade or two - they're the regular awesome Orly formula, just in a smaller size bottle that you may hope to actually use up in your lifetime. My most used shades are the rose gold Rage, a China Glaze Ruby Pumps dupe called Star Spangled, and a pastel mint Gumdrop. If only more nail polish brands jumped on board the mini size train!

7. Wet n'Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Trios ($2.99 for 0.12 oz) Nope, no inexpensive finds round-up can be complete without some Wet n'Wild eyeshadow love. I've depotted mine into a handy-dandy magnetized palette that makes them even easier to use, and as you can see from the state of these pans, they're well loved. Seriously, if you don't have the budget to buy shadows from high-end brands, these are very, very good for the price, and come in a wide range of neutral and bright shades in shimmery and matte finishes. I still remember the thrill of tracking down their Limited Editions...

8. NYX Powder Blushes ($5 for 0.14 oz/4g; Mauve is the shade pictured in the first photo). My NYX blush swatchathon is still one of my most popular posts on the blog, and we all know why: NYX Powder Blushes are a drugstore classic. You know, sometimes you get caught up in the product hype and later regret buying multiple shades of something, but I've never regretted building my collection of NYX blushes - I still reach for them all the time.

9. EcoTools Flat Eyeliner Brush ($5.29 ea; it seems the new version of this brush on EcoTools website has a different shape, but you should still be able to find the older one as well). This was the first EcoTools brush I ever bought, and it started my love for the brand; I always have at least a couple of their brushes in my everyday rotation. This is a very straightfoward brush, but I find the bristles just right for defining my eyebrows or lining my lashline with powders. I believe I've had mine for close to five years now, and it's still just as good as the day I bought it.

10. Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge ($5.99 ea) Finishing strong with the tools, you guys. I've devoted a whole post to my review and demo of this bright orange sponge, so I won't repeat myself too much, apart from reiterating that you need it - and after trying the famous Beautyblender, I confirm that there's no reason to shell out nearly four times the price for one (also, my BB sponge still leaks that neon pink dye! Grrrr). The Real Techniques sponge is perfect for making higher coverage foundations blend seamlessly into the skin. It also looks fun :)

If you still can't get enough of these inexpensive beauty finds, you can check out my Top 10 Drugstore Make-up Favorites - there are some repeat products, but I've tried to avoid too much overlap. What are your favorite beauty buys for under six bucks?

*Disclaimer: Product marked with an asterix (*) is a PR sample I received free of charge for review consideration. All links are non-affiliate. All opinions are 100% honest and unbiased, no matter if the products featured were purchased with my own monies or provided as press samples. Thank you for reading!

Trind Caring Color Nail Lacquer Spring/Summer 2014 Collection Review & Swatches

There's a new player on the US nail market: Trind, a Dutch company specializing in nourishing and strenghtening hand and nail care products, as well as a healthy line of nail lacquers called Caring Colors* ($13 each for 0.3 fl oz/9 ml). Today I have a review and swatches of a part of their Spring/Summer 2014 Collection, "Beauty and The Beach" - let's dive in! ... Or should I say, let's take a stroll?

I received three of the six nail polishes from this collection: Surf's Up, Mint Julep and Appletini. These were a lot of fun to play around with, because as you know, I love almost all shades of blue polish, and the green was a new addition to my nail wardrobe. Trind recommends using the Caring Colors in combination with their treatment products for optimum conditioning effect and adhesion, which prolongs the wear of your manicure. I've been using the lacquers in conjunction with the Keratin Treatment for Nails Kit* for the past two weeks, but it's a bit too early to tell; Trind states it takes approximately 4 weeks to see the strenghtening effect (I'll post a separate review of the kit soon!). I can tell however that with the Keratin Nail Protector used as a base, all of the Caring Colors I tested went on smoothly and resisted chips for about a week on my nails.

Surf's Up is a metallic teal; it appears a bit more aqua blue and duochrome in the bottle but swatches as a true shimmery teal - I like it a lot more than I thought I would! I layered two coats for full opacity. Surf's Up painted smoothly without gaps or pooling around the cuticles, and while you can see some brush strokes, as with nearly all metallic finish polishes, I thought it had a great, even formula.

Mint Julep is a neutral medium depth mint blue with a cream finish. It's a beautiful shade that doesn't pull too yellow or green, like some mint shades tend to on my fair, cool skintone. The photo shows two coats (there are some sheerer patches but it's opaque enough for me) was taken on a third day from application - as you can see, there are no chips and nearly no wear on the tips. It's very slightly greener than Essie In The Cab-Ana, but a close dupe overall, and slightly darker and more vibrant than Orly Gumdrop.

Appletini is a midtone apple green with very fine gold shimmer. I wasn't overly fond of the yellow undertones on my skintone (which the artificial lighting in this photo is bringing out even more - compare to the bottle shots above, which were taken in daylight) but my husband and some girlfriends actually quite liked it. It swatches slightly darker than in the bottle and the shimmer is virtually invisible once on the nails.

All three of the Trind polishes I tried applied evenly, had good opacity, dried fast and wore well without chipping. I initially had some qualms about the elongated handle, but in fact the design makes it easy to hold and paint the nails with precision; all of the Caring Colors have a standard slim brush, which for me makes it easier to get an even application on the sides of my nails. From what I've tried so far, I'm curious to see what else Trind has in stock for us - I was quite impressed with the quality of these!

Trind products, including the Spring/Summer 2014 Collection, are now available online in the US at skindirect.com, skinstore.com and ultimatebeautyonline.com.

Disclaimer: The products marked with an asterix (*) are press samples I received from the brand's PR for review consideration. All links are non-affiliate. All opinions are 100% honest and unbiased, no matter if the products featured were purchased with my own monies or provided as free press samples. Thank you for reading!

An OPI-Heavy Month in Nail Polish: Spring 2014

...also known by the (more frank) name of nail polish spam. And yes, I'm vaguely aware that spring is a season, not a month (although it's harder to believe here in New York); but these were spread out so far apart that I suspect they actually cover the span of three months rather than just one. But I'll roll with it regardless.

We'll go in the anti-chronological order for this one - because I'm excited to show you that I recently attempted to shape my nails. I've always known that a straight-up square shape is not for me, as my nails grow more oval naturally and that's the shape of my nail beds, but I was weirdly squovalling them (is that a word?) most of the time. But no more! I've grown them a bit longer and filed down the sides for a more oval/almond shape, and I've taken to affectionately calling them my 'claws'. I'm in equal parts terrified of and fascinated by the Morticia Addams look they give me. What do you think - yay or nay? Oh yes, and this is two coats of OPI You're Such a Budapest from last year's Euro Centrale collection.

See, here's what I meant by the undecided squovals. Meh - both shape and the actual manicure. Shown here are two coats of OPI I Theodora You from the Wizard of Oz collection, topped with one extremely thick coat of OPI Lights of Emerald City glitter. The extreme thickness of the sparse glitter resulted in bubbling, dragging and very slow drying time - I completely destroyed two of my right hand nails within an hour of polishing. Fail.

For this one, excuse my poor execution and shrinking top coat, but OPI Red Lights Ahead... Where? (from my set of Holland Collection minis) is actually a beautiful shade of orange/coral red with cream finish. I used to be very much against warm reds, but I think I'm slowly... warming up to them? (ok, I'll stop now). I've been playing with an idea of getting an orange red lipstick - any suggestions, preferably drugstore, just in case I don't like it?

My first nail stamping attempt! The base is three coats of China Glaze Lemon Fizz (previously swatched here), stamped with OPI Alpine Snow and the floral pattern from the Born Pretty Store QA82 Plate*. The awesome folks at Born Pretty kindly provided me with some beginner nail stamping supplies - I received the plate, my first stamper & scraper set*, as well as a 10% off coupon for you guys (WTG10) - but I think I'll talk about my stamping experience in a separate post.

As you can see, my manicure is far from perfect (I've had the most issues getting an entire image to transfer onto my curved nails), but it was so much fun experimenting! And I think it was a smart choice to go for low contrasting colors, which makes the flaws slightly less apparent; and the color combination reminds me of a cute floral summer dress, perfect for offsetting the grey New York weather we've been having this week. What have you been sporting on your nails lately?

Disclaimer: The products marked with an asterix (*) were press samples I received from Born Pretty for review consideration. All links are non-affiliate. All opinions are 100% honest and unbiased, no matter if the products featured were purchased with my own monies or provided as free press samples. Thank you for reading!

Three Easy Radiant Orchid Nail Art Ideas for Spring

I realize what you may be thinking right now - me and nail art?! But you know, sometimes it is fun to whip out some nail polishes you've had in your collection for a while and combine them into something completely new and different. I'm a total neub when it comes to nail designs, so if I can have a go at these spring-appropriate looks, I'm sure everyone can too; there are minimal tools required, and it's all rather on trend with the Radiant Orchid color theme. Can you tell how proud I am of myself? I am trendy, you guys.

1. Tonal Lavender Gradient with Zoya Julie & Hudson
This was my second time dabbling with a sponge ombre, and I've decided to use two shimmery lilac/lavender shades from Zoya for a subtle tonal gradient. I applied two coats of Julie on my nails, allowed them to dry well, and then dabbed with a sponge painted with a stripe of Hudson (to about 1/3 of my nail length) and a thicker stripe of Julie - I repeated this twice for more coverage. I absolutely loved this look: the ombre effect was delicate but still visible, and I enjoyed the more pronounced warm shimmer running through Hudson.

2. Rose Gold Triangle Accents with China Glaze That's Shore Bright & Champagne Kisses
For these glitter accents, I painted two coats of China Glaze's That's Shore Bright for my base color,  then blocked off the shape of my slim triangles with strips of scotch tape, layered on Champagne Kisses in the triangle area and removed the strips immediately before the polish had a chance to dry. Once I had all the triangles in place, I hand painted more glitter on for greater opacity. I felt that this design was the most interesting texturally: a slightly matte finish of the neon purple played off the sandy grittiness of rose gold glitter rather well (I skipped a top coat to preserve the original finish of these polishes).

3. Easter Egg Polka Dots with Essie Splash of Grenadine & Van D'Go
Happy Easter, my dears! Every year I like to sport a festive manicure for Easter, usually using some fun spring pastel shades. This time I went for a cheerful pastel polka dot look, using two coats of Essie's Splash of Grenadine as a base, and stamping on Van D'Go with a bamboo skewer (I'm not fancy enough to own a set of dotting tools... but I just might one day!). I think this speckled egg 'dotticure' is just perfect for Easter, and I can't wait to play around with other color combinations!

I hope you enjoyed these nail art ideas! It was definitely a lot of fun for me to push myself and experiment with something I'm usually too lazy to go for. Are you into nail designs or do you prefer simpler manicures? Would you try any of these looks yourself?

A Month In Nail Polish: Early Spring 2014

I haven't shared any nail swatches in a while, right? Well, you might remember that in January, I decided to give my nails a break from constant polishing to see if it would help with breakage and general dryness. What resulted, however, was a little bit different from what I expected - without the extra protective layer of base coat + nail polish + top coat, some of my nails started breaking even worse! You know, kinda like when you get this tiny crack at the side of your nail that's sticking out, and then it catches on something, and before you notice half of your fingernail is GONE. Yeah, that.

So I obviously decided to stop that nonsense and went right back to painting on some pretty pretty early spring shades.

Essie Nail Color in Chinchilly, two coats. A cult classic for a reason. Chinchilly replaced a bottle of Essie Hot Coco in my collection; while Hot Coco was a bit too warm and brown on me, Chinchilly has a perfectly cool purple undertone. I accented my ring nail with a coat of Zoya Jules, a taupe with gold shimmer.

A sparkling snowy manicure for the last days of winter! This is Revlon Colorstay Nail Polish in Calla Lily (three coats), topped with one coat of Zoya Nail Lacquer in Mosheen from their Winter 2013 collection. Mosheen is such a cool shade: a very sheer light blue base with small opalescent glitters and larger light blue bar glitters. On top of the Revlon shade, it brought out some yellow undertones in my nails I wasn't overly fond of, but now I really want to try it again on top of blue or some darker shade nail polish.

And Zoya strikes again! This beautiful medium orchid purple with white gold shimmer is Zoya Nail Lacquer in Hudson (two coats) from the Spring 2014 collection. I actually won this plus one other shade in Zoya's weekly Twitter giveaway, Tune Tuesday (you can learn more about it here). I definitely recommend checking their giveaway out - it's a lot of fun, and who can say no to some new Zoya polishes?

Lastly, a quintessential warm weather shade - Essie Nail Color in In The Cab-Ana from last year's Resort collection (two coats). This medium turquoise blue (it appears lighter in my photo) was a little thick for my liking, which caused some gaps and dragging, but overall applied opaque in two coats and has lasted with just some tip wear for six days now. This is actually my first time wearing this shade and I like it a lot more than I thought I would!

What nail polish shades do you favor this time of the year?

Best Beauty Buys of 2013

The year 2013 is now drawing to a close; I hope you spent your Holidays well with your loved ones and now that you're slowly emerging from a food coma, it's time to think about the glamour of New Year's Eve! I might be able to help in your party preparations with my selection of best make-up products I've tried in 2013. These are not actually items that were newly released in 2013, just bits that I personally started using or rediscovered this year - basically, a yearly favorites of sorts. Majority of these products have been previously reviewed, so if you're interested in more details and swatches, please click on the provided links. Let's get cracking!

Starting with base make-up, this was actually the hardest part to include in my favorites. I suppose that throughout the year, I used my Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum foundation the most and now I've very nearly finished my bottle, but I came to the conclusion that it's a very difficult product to get right; if my skin is too much on the oily side, it slides right off, if it's a bit dehydrated, it clings to all the dry patches. So, contrarily, for its ease of use, the 2013 award goes to Laura Mercier Mineral Powder SPF 15 (review and swatches of my shade, Tender Rose, here). This mineral foundation is quick and easy, gives good coverage and disguises both enlarged pores as well as dry flakes. I only wish they made a travel jar as well!

Onto the eyes (I know, no blush in my round-up; quelle horreur! I just wasn't very loyal to any particular formula or brand although I've tried some lovely ones this year... Maybe a blush favorites post in the future?): I actually have two eyeshadow formula favorites. First up, and it's no surprise, bareMinerals READY Eyeshadows. My favorite all-round color combo is this palette in The Finer Things (LE, sorry! But... click here anyway?), although you can also find great neutral choices in The Power Neutrals palette or Truth quad.

Secondly, nothing can beat the price point and unique shade selection of Fyrinnae loose eyeshadows (swatches here and here, eye looks here and here, notes on pressing samples here). Admittedly, they require a bit more effort if you wish to save space and application time by pressing them, but for me the payoff is absolutely worth it. I can also credit Fyrinnae shadows for more colorful eye make-up experiments this year. I undoubtedly see myself expanding my collection of their shades in the future. As a side note, I love using my Z Palettes for all the loose eyeshadow and blush pans and much prefer them to any other free form palette I've tried thus far.

Eyeshadow sticks and eyeliners: Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eye Colors (especially the shade Grey Pearl, swatched and reviewed here) and Sephora Contour Eye Pencil 12HR Wear respectively (shades Flirting Game and Surfer Babe here). 2013 was a grand year of cream eyeshadows for me, which I'm sure some of you noticed from the abundance of posts on the subject. Laura Mercier Caviar Sticks still stand out as overall winners, and the Sephora Contour pencils are the best pencil eyeliners I've tried in a long time; the available shades of both products are beautiful too. You just can't go wrong with either formula.

This past year was a jolly good time for my lashes, mostly due to the amazing thickening and lenghtening powers of LiLash Eyelash Serum (full review here). I'm still clinging to my first tube and scraping up the bottom for the very last bits; as you can see in the photo, I do have a back-up, but I want to get the most mileage partly because of the price, but mostly because it's sadly no longer in production. I might cry when it runs out. As for mascara formulas that worked the best on my full fringe, Laura Mercier's Full Blown Volume Lash Building Mascara ($24 for 0.4 oz) was a very pleasant surprise (I have another deluxe sample here in the photo), but honorable mentions should also go to Bobbi Brown's Everything Mascara ($25 for 0.2 oz) and Buxom's Buxom Lash ($19 for 0.37 oz).

 Aaaah, lip products. I have to say this year I turned to more high-end formulas and generally, as my lips got a lot drier, became significantly more picky about the formulas. Three that emerged as comfortable, line-filling, hydrating winners: Guerlain Rouge Automatique (the only shade I own, Shalimar, photographed and swatched here - but I'm already scheming to purchase more shades) for a proper, pigmented lipstick, Fresh Sugar Tinted Lip Treatments (older review here; my favorite shade was Rose but I also really like Passion) for a sheer, juicy formula, and lastly Buxom Lip Cream in Cherry Flip (clickety click!) for a gloss.

For nail polish favorites, my regular rotation of OPI and Essie polishes was joined by Zoya Professional Nail Lacquer (no links, but you can look up swatches in my 'Month in Nail Polish' posts). I came to really enjoy their solid 5-free formula and I can't blame the shade range either. I especially like Zoya's more adventurous approach to finish; you can find creams, duochromes, subtle pearls, holos, sand texture and even bar glitter in their line-up. I like!

Wow, congratulations if you got this far! That was quite a bit of overly enthusiastic make-up musings, wasn't it? You might notice that I featured a lot of these favorites in my recent 'What's In My Make-up Bag?' post; what can I say, I really do like have my favoritest and trustiest products with me when I travel. I also decided to exclude any skincare or haircare products from this list for a variety of reasons, most of them having to do with the fact that it's a more difficult subject matter to evaluate objectively and thus, probably less helpful to you. Anyway, I do hope you enjoyed reading about my best beauty buys of 2013 and stay tuned for 2013 in review post!

A Month in Nail Polish: November & December

Merry Christmas Eve to all of you, my dears! As an intermission to all your festive preparations, I have some nail p0rn for you. November & December were another two months of nail care laziness chez Rocaille Writes; I think the fact that nail polish wears so well on my nails is both a blessing and a curse, as I get to be rather forgetful about my manicures without having to endure terrible chips and broken nails.

Turn It Around is the first Rescue Beauty Lounge nail polish I've ever tried, and I was quite smitten with this khaki green full of fiery copper flecks; it rather reminded me of turning leaves and thus was a perfect fall nail shade. This is two coats but I think the color would benefit from three; again, I'm too lazy for that. It wore well for at least a week without any chips and just minor tip wear.

At Halloween, I took advantage of Zoya's promo and bought 2 polishes for the price of one with free shipping. I chose Payton (pictured) and Mosheen (swatches to come) from their new Winter collection. Zoya Payton is a gorgeous deep grape jelly with holographic glitter. This is two coats again; sorry for the uneven ring around my cuticles, but I think my bottle of Essie top coat has a tendency to shrink now.

December brought with it some obligatory holiday parties, and I decided to go all out red sparkles with Orly Star Spangled, pretty much an identical dupe to China Glaze Ruby Slippers. To shake things up a bit, I've kept my nails longer, and accented my ring finger with China Glaze Mrs. Claus silver and pink glitter topper. I couldn't stop staring at my shimmery ruby talons!

For my flight back home, I settled on a slightly more neutral, but nonetheless festive manicure with OPI Don't Burst My Bubble pale pink jelly for the base color, topped with OPI Ski Slope Sweetie opalescent pale white gold. The latter is a very difficult polish to capture on camera (which is why you get two photos in slightly different lighting), and it can also look very different on top of various shades, but I wanted the softness of pale pink underneath to compliment the shifting colors of gold, orange, fuschia and lime shimmers.

I like travelling with more neutral colors on my nails, because even though it's now been one week since the application, there are absolutely no chips and you can barely see any tip wear! Speaking of travels, thank you all kindly for your good wishes; I got home safely but not without some delays at the airport - New York was so snowy on the day of my departure! But I'm here, properly spoilt with delicious food and comfy blankets by my parents, and happily snapping away on my camera so that I'd be able to bring a little piece of Poland to you as well, as requested. Sending lots of love your way, and... Merry Christmas!

A Month in Nail Polish: September & October

... So, that would make it Two Months in Nail Polish, right? Liar liar, pants on fire. Here's the excuse: I was moving, and it's a widely known fact, moving ruins your nails; also, I was lazy. But, onwards and upwards - let's look at some fall-appropriate nail polish swatches!

 I started the fall season with a newer member of my nail polish collection, Zoya Jem. As you can see in the bottle close-up, it's a beautiful burgundy and gold duochrome shimmer - unfortunately, the duochrome is much less visible once on the nails. The formula was quite thin and would probably require three coats for full opacity; but again, laziness. The tip wear was significant on the second day already and the polish chipped off quickly - but I think my nails might have been to blame as the tips have been very peely lately. Overall, I shall revisit you at a later date, Jem.

Another week, another hard-to-capture duochrome: Revlon Perplex, a famous Chanel Paradoxale dupe. I'm not sure if I ever featured it on the blog before (probably not, as it tends to trick my camera pretty successfully) but it's a gorgeous smokey grey plum with violet microshimmer; think Essie Smokin' Hot but with more dimension. Great formula (two coats), good longevity. A fall staple.

I did wine, I did plum, so next it had to be a navy blue. Essie No More Film actually debuted in their Summer 2012 collection, but I think it's a fantastic shade for the cooler months and for me, a preferrable alternative to this season's After School Boy Blazer; the latter pretty much IS black and thus a smidge too gothic. The glitter for the accent nail is OPI's Polka.com; I like it much better over a dark shade versus the pink I tried earlier.

Lastly, a bit of a cheat - this is a very old swatch of Revlon Facets of Fuschia (presently, Scandalous) I had sitting in my photo folder for a really long time, and I wanted it out. Nevertheless, it's one of my favorite glitters for All Hallows' Eve; there's just something witchy to it that I can't quite put my finger on. I don't remember much about the formula or wear, but glitters tend to be tenacious.

So, these past two months have been all about vampy shades, duochromes and glitter. Have I already said that I love fall nail polish? What have you been wearing on your nails recently?