I don't have an Independence Day manicure, but I thought it would be appropriate to post some American Apparel swatches. I made this decision solely based on its name, not its CEO.

1 coat

American Apparel Angeline is a hot pink creme. It's also ridiculously shiny. It's pictured completely dry.

2 coats

American Apparel Army Jacket is an army green creme. The polish looks very separated in the bottle, creating a sort of camouflage pattern. If most of my other AAs didn't look like that, I'd definitely say it was creative packaging. The polish applies just fine after a bit of shaking, though.

2 coats

American Apparel Berry is a rich, deep berry that leans a bit more red than my photo shows. It's definitely appropriately named.

1 coat

American Apparel Bronze Dash is a bronze foil with silver bits as well. I'm not sure why it makes my nails look so bulbous.

2 coats

American Apparel Butter is a pale yellow creme. I don't own any other yellows quite like this.





All of the AA polishes I've tried have a great formula - self-leveling, pigmented, and smooth application. I also am a fan of the brush. It's long and thin, making it much easier (at least for me) to avoid painting my cuticles.



American Apparel polishes retail for $6 and are available in store and online.



Do you have a favorite American Apparel polish?

Here it is - the portion of my stash I was dreading to photograph. I honestly don't have as much as I thought I did, which is wonderful.

OPI

OPI

OPI

OPI

OPI glitters

OPI DS

A lot of these were dustied, hence the grody caps.

OPI, Sephora by OPI, Nicole by OPI

OPI minis

Purging these will be so much fun. :)

My hands look like they've been to hell and back with all the cuts I've accumulated. Open wounds + acetone do not mix, so there's my excuse for having not swatched anything in a while. I'm mostly healed except for a HUGE gash on my middle finger (I swear, it's cursed!), which is why you'll be seeing two nail swatches for a while. Trust me, it's better this way.



Anyway, the On Safari collection is here. I bring you my swatches to add the mountain of swatches already out there.

2 coats

China Glaze Jungle Queen is a greyed out purple with pink shimmer. The shimmer in my picture looks quite violet, but it's warmer and more pink in person. Looks familiar, right?

2 coats

China Glaze Man Hunt is a medium blue creme. It has a nice vibrancy to it without being over the top.

2 coats

China Glaze Exotic Ecounters is a green leaning teal creme that has a slight dusty quality to it.

2 coats

China Glaze Elephant Walk is a green tinged grey with sliver shimmer. It's a really cool shade that I don't seen very often.

3 coats

China Glaze I'm Not Lion is a pale gold glitter with some holo glitter as well. I kind of wish China Glaze had left the holo glitter out of this one simply because I'm sick of seeing it in everything. Not just China Glaze glitters, but in general. It's becoming a bit too ubiquitous for my liking. Nonetheless, I'm Not Lion is quite pretty.





The formula on these is good. They all have a nice consistency and opacity. I could have definitely gotten away with one coat of Jungle Queen and Exotic Encounters.



The must-haves for me are Elephant Walk and I'm Not Lion. The others are not very unique or exciting. I'll have the other half of the ten I purchased later this week.



Have you/will you purchased anything from this collection? Which Fall 2012 collections are you most looking forward to?

I'm back with more brands from my stash. It's so interesting to see what colors I'm drawn to. This is also another exercise in purging my stash. The more I see how many similar polishes I have, the easier it will be to get rid of some of them. Thanks for indulging me during this arduous process.

Deborah Lippmann

Deborah Lippmann

Adorable minis!

Orly

Orly

My Zoyas were all over the place! Each time I took a photo, I remembered I had more sitting around in another drawer.

Zoya

Zoya

Zoya

This battle is a bit different because I haven't chosen suspected dupes, per se. Instead, I've simply chosen three (of many) Deborah Lippmanns that I have yet to try. I went through a phase of collecting a great deal of her polishes because I love the formula, brush, and bottle. In a short amount of time, I ended up with a lot of Lippmann polishes, which made the process of trying them seem overwhelming. Isn't that crazy? I fawn over how beautiful these polishes are and yet the prospect of trying them all overwhelms me. Strange, I know.



Anyway, I forgot to do a bottle shot, so let's jump right into it. The polishes I selected for this battle are Satin Doll, I Dreamed You, and I'm Not Innocent

3 coats

Deborah Lippmann Satin Doll is a warm tan with lots of silver pearl. The pearl reminds me of the pearl that is in Zoya Touch polishes. I don't love it. I'm not even sure I like it.




The formula is a great consistency, and the opacity built up nicely at three coats.

3 coats

Deborah Lippmann I Dreamed You is a soft pink pearl. It has an iridescent quality as sometimes the pearl looks slightly red or slightly copper. I can honestly say I only bought this because it was in a duo with another polish that I actually wanted. I like it, but I'm not sure I would wear it again.



I Dreamed You is a bit prone to brushstrokes, but a careful application (I applied quite haphazardly) would likely minimize that. The formula is on the thin side but not at all runny.

4 coats

Deborah Lippmann I'm Not Innocent is a light peach creme. When I'm shopping for soft shades, I tend to gravitate towards colors like this, so I probably have a few other polishes that are similar.



I experienced some streaking during application, and though it was opaque in three coats, I needed the fourth to even everything out.



Side note: If you've been on the hunt for work/interview appropriate shades, all of these fit the bill quite nicely.





Battle casualties: I Dreamed You and Satin Doll. I just don't like the finish on these, and I could live without these shades in my stash.



Wounded in action: I'm Not Innocent. I'm keeping this, but it is contingent on a comparison with other similar shades in my stash. If this is the best, it'll stay. If I find something else that applies better, into the purge pile it goes.



That's it for this week's battle. Which would you have kept? Are you more into nudes or brights?



Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!

2 coats

Dior Lucky is a gorgeous pinky red creme. There's a bit of hidden shimmer in there, which I've noticed is in a lot of my Dior shades. Lucky is my kind of pink - rich and vibrant. This one is definitely a keeper.



The formula is lovely as usual. The pigmentation is top-notch - I could have stopped at one coat. I really love the brush as well. It's overall a really beautiful polish.



Dior Lucky (10ml/0.33 fl. oz.) retails for $23  and is available at Dior.com