My BL stash is the first I've purged, and I wanted to share that with you. I went from 52 to 38! Here's what's left:

1st row: Pink Ribbon, Tea with the Queen, Tart with a Heart, All Hail McQueen, All Hail the Queen (they're different, I swear), The Full Monty, Wallis, Toff, Queen Vic  2nd row: Bumster, Bossy Boots, Dosh, Blagger, Lillibet's Jubilee, Knackered, Muggins, No More Waity Katie, Marrow, The Black Knight  3rd row: Lady Muck, Victoriana, Artful Dodger, Slapper, Henley Regatta, Thames, British Racing Green, Bluey, Royal Navy, Mariner

I'm back with the second half of the polishes I purchased from this collection.

2 coats

China Glaze Kalahari Kiss is a slightly grungy, mustardy yellow...I think. It's one of those ugly-pretty colors that is difficult to describe. I kind of love it?

2 coats

China Glaze Desert Sun is a orangey brown creme. It sort of reminds me of OPI & Apple Pie.

2 coats

China Glaze Purr-fect Plum. Talk about the most appropriate name ever. It's a really great plum that's not too red or purple. Wonderful balance.

2 coats

China Glaze Prey Tell is a deep red jelly. I ant to say there's some brown involved, to. It's so glossy and luscious!



I haven't read anything negative about Prey Tell's formula, so I'm sure my experience is unique. My bottle was so thick and goopy, I had to thin it with a ton of thinner before I even used it. I think maybe the cap was never fully closed during the bottling because the evaporation was very visible! So strange.

3 coats

China Glaze I Herd That is a warm gold glitter. Yes, there is holo glitter in this one as well. I didn't notice it as much in this one as I did in I'm Not Lion, but I still could do without the holo glitter. I'm really digging the texture of this, too. I wore this as a full mani for 5 days, and it wore extremely well with no top coat.



The formula of these is great. I'm sure Prey Tell's formula is wonderful as well, I just had a bum bottle. I will probably get another one. I also love the pigmentation of these shades.



Overall, On Safari is a nice collection, but it's not exciting by any means. There are some great choices if you're in the market for basic shades, and the glitters (despite the holo glitter) are quite pretty. I would say the ones to definitely check out are Elephant Walk, I'm Not Lion, and I Herd That. Also, Kalahari Kiss if you're into weird shades like this.



Since my last post on this collection, have you/will you purchase(d) anything from this collection?

Just realized I never posted this. Slowly working through my untrieds!

3 coats Pop Beauty Lavender Love w/ 1 coat Sally Hansen A Girl's Best Friend

Pop Beauty Lavender Love is a pale lavender creme. It's pretty, not at all unique, and has one of the worst formulas I've encountered. It was goopy and runny at the same time; I'm not even sure how I got it to finally level out. I normally try thinning problem polishes, but this one's already so thin, I'm not sure what I can do besides get rid of it.



Sally Hansen A Girl's Best Friend is a very pretty golden shimmer top coat. It's like China Glaze White Cap without the translucent white base. I had no issues applying this, and it dried fairly quickly. I have a few more shimmer top coats that I'll have to compare this to before I decide to keep it or not.

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?