Misa - Phazers on Stunning

Phazers on Stunning is a green/rose-beige duo chrome shimmer, and should also be spelled "Phasers", but that's neither here nor there.

Basecoat:  NailTek Foundation II (1 coat)

Color:  Misa Phazers on Stunning (4 coats)

Topcoat:  Northern Lights Gold Holo (1 coat)

Topcoat:  Revlon Quick Dry (1 coat)

Funny thing about these photos:  When I was taking them, I was having trouble capturing the pink/rose color of this polish, but when I went to edit them I saw that even though all I could see was the green, all I got in the photos is the rose.

Anyway, this is a pretty thin and runny polish.  It was fairly sheer - I needed four coats and I still have a bit of VNL.  To be honest, I don't feel like this is a very exciting color, so I added a coat of the gold Northern Lights holo topcoat, and it didn't really help.

Misa - Mermaid Dreams

Mermaid Dreams is a glass-flecked medium blue that has a strong pink/purple duochrome flash in the bottle.  It's from Misa's summer collection.

Basecoat:  Salon Sciences Instant Artificials (1 coat)
Color:  Misa Mermaid Dreams (3 coats)
Topcoat:  David (1 coat)

I had a hard time capturing the purple/pink flash in the bottle, and it is totally invisible on my nails.

Mermaid Dreams had a very nice application - what I usually get with a Misa polish.  Not too runny or too thick, easy to control. not a bad cleanup.

But. I have beaucoup bubbles.  I also have pretty good tip shrink, maybe two hours after I finished applying, and it's going to get worse, I'm sure.  I've never had this happen with a Misa polish, but I also honestly can't remember any other non-creme Misa that I own, either.

So, I'll be trying this one again at some point.

Heaven - Sunshine and Misa - Endless Keys

When we moved into our new house, we had no idea where any grocery stores were, or what was the most convenient one.  We checked out an Albertson's nearby, and I came across a display of Heaven polish.  I've never heard of this brand, and I don't think I've ever seen this brand reviewed on any of the blogs I follow.  Most of the colors were kind of meh, frankly, but they had a few neons, so I took a closer look.  When I looked at the bottom of the bottle I saw that this brand is made by Blue Cross (maker of the Liquid Euphoria and Touch-Up Paint brands), so I threw a few in my cart.

Sunshine is a neon orangish-yellow.  The bottle alone really freaked out my camera - it is a tad more orange in real life.  I would say it's pretty similar to China Glaze Sun Worshipper, but I'm not going to compare them.  I actually wore this on its own before I started posting again, and when I was looking at my untried Misas I decided this would work as underwear.

This is two coats, over one coat of Insta-Dri Whirlwind White.  This photo was taken with no flash, and the color is more accurate here.  If I was going to wear this on its own I would definitely add a third coat, but then if I was going to wear it alone I would have cared more about my sloppy white coat underneath, too :)  You can see I have a little bit of dragging and a couple of bare spots.

Here's a closer look at my application.  This polish does not self level, at ALL.  Like most neons, it doesn't dry glossy, so you will probably want to use a topcoat.

This is Misa "Endless Keys".  It is part of the summer collection, and so far all of them seem to be sheer-ish than I like.  Endless Keys is a little more muted in real life, even in the bottle.

Basecoat:  Salon Sciences Instant Artificials (1 coat)
Color:  Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White (1 coat)
Color:  Heaven Sunshine (2 coats)
Color:  Misa Endless Keys (3 coats)
Topcoat:  Seche Vite (1 coat)

Lots of coats here!

Amazingly, I didn't have any shrinkage with this many coats.  Endless Keys had the usual great Misa application - smooth, not too runny, easy to control and clean up.

Misa - Embroidered Emerald

Here is another one of those that I got most of the way through and decided not to wear after all.
Embroidered Emerald is a purple/berry with green shimmer. Orly Galaxy Girl is pretty much a dupe of this polish, except Galaxy Girl has sparkle to it.

Basecoat: China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat (2 coats)
Color: Misa Embroidered Emerald (3 coats)

This was a really thin and soupy polish. I had trouble controlling it accurately and as you can see, even after three coats I still have streaking and bald spots. This, plus someone on the NB pointing out that it's pretty much Galaxy Girl, are what made me decide not to wear this today. I didn't really feel like going to four or five coats to cover the streaking. Still, it's a nice polish and it was nowhere the pain to remove that Galaxy Girl was.

Misa - Hot People Like You

Tonight's NOTD is Misa's Hot People Like You. The name of this has bugged me for a while - does it mean you are a "Hot People", or does it mean Hot People think you're awesome?

Anyway, this is one of the first Misas I acquired. It was in the same Head 2 Toe haul as, oh, a ton of other colors. It's been in my stash for quite a while. This is a hot pink shimmer. I would stop just short of calling it a neon. It was also fairly sheer, which you can tell from looking at the bottle. Today while I was looking at Zoya swatches for the Exchange (Shush! I'm not technically buying it!) I came across Scrangie's swatch of this and remembered I had it in my stash. I searched for someone else's swatch, too, because somehow Scrangie's swatches NEVER show VNL. Here are three photos, all under halogen.
I notice in the photos that it looks a little more orange than it is in real life. This is definitely pink, not in the least coral or orange.
This next photo is under somewhat more indirect light. I was trying to capture the shimmer but don't think I succeeded very well.
Basecoat: Orly Ridgefiller (2 coats - I was trying to help the opacity)
Color: Misa Hot People Like You (4 coats)
Topcoat: Seche Vite (1 coat)

It isn't visible in the photos, but I still have some VNL going on. It's not too bad - I think you would only notice it if you were looking for it, but of course I'm always looking for it. This dried shiny but I always love how Seche gives it that extra shine, and I swear it seemed to kick up the color's intensity a little.

I'm sending in 18 old polishes for the Zoya exchange. I spent way too much time looking at swatches, and I already have a big ol backlog of Zoya in my untried pile. I think it is because last year I never looked at swatches and went straight off the swatches on zoya.com, so a lot of the polishes I got looked nothing like I pictured them. I'll post my haul when it arrives. I also ordered the Color Lock system, because it seems like I always have problems with Zoya polishes and tip pulling. I've tried wearing a regular top coat (like OPI) under Seche, and this helps a little, but isn't perfect.

Have a great rest of the week - I'll be back on Thursday with a new color and hopefully some sun pictures, since I'll be working at home.