En Couleur @ Cal

Dive Deeper by Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure worn over What’s With the Cat-titude? by OPI

To everyone who’s still reading this blog, thanks for sticking around despite the dearth of recent posts. After finals and graduation, we at En Couleur have had little time for updates due to celebrating our freedom from the yoke of oppression. Now that things have settled down a bit, I’d like to inaugurate this summer’s posts with this sheerly sparkling, cornflower blue mani. Dive Deeper on its own is so sheer that you’d be painting to the point of frustration—I’m guessing four coats for opacity, at least. Layer it with What’s With the Cat-titude underneath to cut that down to one coat, and brighten the blue tone. For best results, wear with a bikini and hit the beach! It may not be the most traditional beach color, but doesn’t that color remind you of waves gently glittering under the sun?

Scrangie by Rescue Beauty Lounge

To me, Scrangie is more than a magic bottle of purple-blue duochrome perfection—it is also a story. It is a story of yearning and loss, of redemption and extraordinary kindness. For months I had longed for a RBL polish, but I could never justify taking the plunge. Throughout that time, Scrangie dominated my wish list. I loved everything about it: the interplay of the red-toned purple base and the cerulean shimmer, the backstory (how it was created by the famous blogger of the same name), and the fact that it was inspired by iridescent beetles’ wings.

Scrangie is incredibly hard to find, since it’s been sold out for a while. Though RBL is bringing it back, the new batch will take 5-6 months to produce. So how did this beauty end up in my well-manicured hands? The answer is my friend and fellow polish connoisseur JS, who takes the art of gift-giving to a whole new level.

As for the polish itself, in person it was just as beautiful as I had imagined. This is two coats, and I probably could have used three. The brush is a bit small, but it applies flawlessly.  Scrangie definitely ranks among my favorite polishes ever; I just pray that my bottle never runs out.

Sweet Chiffon by L’Oreal

Aptly named, Sweet Chiffon is indeed as dainty and delicate as its name suggests. This peachy-pink nude has a faint shimmer, but appears creamy on the nail for the most part. Although there may be some who would argue that this is a perfect polish for a romantic Valentine’s Day date, I would disagree. I like the color, but it’s almost too saccharine for my taste and it hardly makes my heart flutter. That said, it is cute and appropriately girlishly coy for the holiday if that is indeed your cup of tea. 

Meadow by Zoya

This is a lovely antique rose with barely there gold shimmer. Should you be looking for that ‘perfect pink’ out there, this may well be where your search ends. Meadow will take you from work to date night and, what I find quite appealing, keep you looking young without making you look childish. One issue with finding the right pink is that too bright a pink recalls memories of being a wild teenager (which is fine sometimes), too frosty a pink will elicit memories of your grandmother (also fine sometimes), and too pale a pink can look too girlish. Meadow is appropriately named- it brings to mind a young woman strolling through a field of flowers in the French countryside. Another plus? Unlike many pinks, Meadow was practically opaque with only one coat!

Richelle by Zoya

We continue our series of Zoya posts to help you pick your colors for Zoya’s latest promotion with Richelle, my New Year’s Eve color of choice. This is hands down one of my favorite nail polishes ever. The color of course is gorgeous, a shimmery gilded bronze, and the versatility of this color means that options are nearly endless. It’s not too over-the-top for work, it can be worn with nearly any outfit for virtually any occasion and works with any skin tone, and it always garners multiple compliments. Overall, Richelle is one of my top recommendations so definitely check it out! 

Veruschka by Zoya

Merry Christmas, fellow nail polish aficionados! I had hoped to have a slew of posts dedicated to holiday colors up sooner, but alas finals and travel have slowed me down. I’ll start with this gorgeous matte green from Zoya. Dark and deep, much like Robert Frost’s snowy woods I’d imagine, Veruschka has a lit-from-within quality that immediately caught my eye. One coat is enough for complete coverage and it applies like a dream. The addition of a top coat brings out the intense brilliance of this color, as you can see in the third picture. I’ll be changing my color often this week for the holidays and New Year’s, so look forward to more reviews soon. Enjoy the holiday season!