Zoya Noot

Zoya Noot is a charcoal gray leaning green. When I was painting my bathroom gray, I had a hard time finding a paint that would look true gray.  They looked taupe or blue, but not gray.  I have the same issue with gray nail polish.  After I did some research on the internet, I found out that grays that lean green appear true gray.  This is sort of true for Noot.  It does look true gray in most lights.  Sometimes it looks green/gray.  It is a bit stark for me to wear Noot on it's own.  I'll probably pair it with a light gray and do nail art most of the time I use it.  Below it is with a Wet 'n Wild Kaleidoscope glitter gradient.  Meh.  That was O.K. 

I Mixed it Myself (Navy Blue Jelly)

So I'm going to have to explain a lot of terms here.  The internet term for a polish you mix yourself is a franken.  You know how Frankenstein is made from the parts of lots of dead people?  Well a franken polish is made from a mix of other polishes.  What is a jelly polish?  A jelly polish is a sheer polish that looks a little like jelly on the finger nails.  With me so far?  What is a jelly sandwich?  A jelly sandwich is one coat of a jelly polish, one coat of a glitter, and a final coat of a jelly polish.  So, this is a franken jelly sandwich manicure. 

I mixed my navy blue jelly polish in a uncleaned Wet 'n Wild 415A bottle.  I figured I was making a blue polish, so why bother cleaning out the blue bottle.  I mixed Orly Star of Bombay with Wet 'n Wild Clear.  I plan to add more clear to make this polish more sheer and a tiny bit of black to make it darker.  Since I"m a dork I named the polish. Since I'm a geek, I named it Watching for the Capitol Seal. 

This is one coat "Watching for the Capitol Seal", one coat Wet 'n Wild Kaledoscope and then another coat of "Watching for the Capitol Seal".

Essie Smooth Sailing

This is Essie Smooth Sailing.  I found a box of four mini Essie bottles on clearance, which included Smooth Sailing.  :)  Smooth Sailing is a pretty periwinkle blue.  It has subtle sparkles that only show in the sun.  I think the shimmer was pink and turquoise??  I can't remember for sure.  It is a bit too cool toned for my skin, but I think I can still pull it off.  I used Wet 'n Wild Kaleidoscope to make a glitter gradient.  Then I added some Essie Pure Pearlfection to the gradient.  It was better before the Pearlfection.  I think this mani on the whole was better without the glitter gradient.  The glitter gradient picture isn't the best, but you get the general idea.