Zoya Marley

This polish definitely has shimmer. It's not very noticeable, but it shows up more in real life than in these pictures. I think if I had had direct sunlight to work with, you could see it in the photos. 

Very spring-like color. I like it. Not very unique, but pretty.

Mojito Madness

I'm poor, so I only bought three of Essie's summer 2012 collection. Here's the first:

This might be my new favorite green. I love it so much and it looks good with my skin tone. This is two coats- it's a very smooth, nice formula.

Zoya Loretta

For the Earth Day promo, I decided to get the Purity collection because even I enjoy a nice French or American manicure every once in a while. 

I believe this was three coats. Still very sheer and jelly-like, and you can see my nail line (what little one there is - I had just cut my nails). But I have the yellow staining on my nails common to nail polish lovers, and this covered it up very well. No streaking at all, either!

Turned up Turquoise

This is one of my new favorites. I bought it with a coupon at Sally Beauty and tossed it in the box with my other China Glazes. It's a neon and it is the brightest turquoise I could ever imagine.

Please excuse the base of my nails. I bought Sally Hansen Instant Cuticle Remover (it worked) but I don't recommend using it with painted nails...the lacquer at the base began to peel, as you can see in the photo.

The lacquer changes significantly in different light. The above photo is in sunlight, and the following is in the artificial light of my bathroom:

Here's another for fun:

It dries matte, but it looks fine after a top coat. The first coat goes on terrible - thick, gloopy and streaky. But the second coat goes on much better, and you could get by with just two coats. I didn't wait long enough for the first coat to dry, so I had some cuticle drag with the second and had to cover that up.

Orly Gilded Coral

I bought it because it looks pink in the bottle.

On my nails, it's a peachy-gold frosty nightmare. See the difference between the bottle and my nails?

I don't even think it was intended to be a frost - it's definitely got shimmer particles in it. But it sure as hell looks like a frost. And I HATE frosts.

If frosts are your thing, rest assured this one has no problem with brushstrokes at all and the color itself is quite pretty. You should probably get it.

I, however, won't be keeping this one.

Essie Sand Tropez

Here's another from the French Affair collection.

I've been on a real neutrals kick for the past month. This doesn't have the best formula - it took three coats to smooth it all out to my liking.

It's not bad at two coats if you are impatient. But you can kind of see the brushstrokes still, especially on my middle finger.

Essie Coat Azure

This is by far one of my favorite blues ever. It's a shimmer polish, so it applies more smoothly than some Essie cremes, but it's an understated shimmer. Very nice for spring and summer. Two coats.