Pinks

I had to do two rounds of pink nail polishes in order to get through the full set, though I did add in a few colors that aren’t really pinks to the first round, and repeated a color in round one during round two. I also didn’t swatch every single pink I own. I have a few polishes that are unique in my collection, and two rounds is quite enough thank you, that I don’t feel the need to compare those shades to the rest of my pink collection. The majority of my eliminations come in round two, probably because that is where my weakness lies, ah the bright neon pink. Round one was the baby, pale pinks on one hand and brighter but still not neon pinks on the other. Round two was the neon and bright pinks.

Round one

Round two

 This is going to be a long one, so everything is below the cut.

Baby pinks first. Nothing here is going, though I will probably pit some of these against my white and silver polishes at a later date.

On my left thumb is Zoya Tinsley, and it isn't exactly a baby pink but it fits in here better than anywhere else. This is one of my most favorite nail polishes, if not the favorite. It’s a lovely pink with gold shimmer and I get mesmerized by it all the time. I’m actually considering hunting down a backup bottle just in case they discontinue it before I run out of this bottle. It is that gorgeous, and obviously going nowhere.

The next two are very similar, but I feel there is enough difference between then that I'm justified in keeping both. Left pointer is OPI Princesses Rule and on the middle finger is Revlon Powder Puff. They're both very sheer, but Powder PUff is a bit more milky and Princesses Rule is so very, very shiny. Princesses Rule is a pink polish with a silver shimmer and Powder Puff is a pale pink with silver/green shimmer. Both take about three or four coats to go opaque, but I don’t mind so much. And because Powder Puff is milkier it makes a nice French manicure base. I feel a wee bit silly keeping both of them as technically they're both sheer pale pinks, but I think they're different enough to justify keeping both.

The polish on my left ring finger isn’t technically a pink at all. Revlon Lavender Soap is a very pale, pearlescent/metallic lavender polish. I tested this one with the pale pinks because it is my only super pale purple, and I wanted to see if it was similar at all to the pale pinks in my collection. It is not.

And last in this ‘pale pink’ category is Zoya Lauren on my left pinky. It is a pale mauve with a pearlescent finish. This one is unique in this pink sub-set and while it’s kind of a grandma shade, I really do love it. I have absolutely no idea why I love this color so much as it is both almost skin toned and very grandma. And yet, it speaks to me.

The next set is the mid-tone pink polishes. These are all unique and if I were going by that alone, I ought to keep them all. But, I’m iffy on two of these. The one on my right thumb is Zoya Eden. It is a bright, milky blue based pink. I’m not entirely sure it’s flattering on my hands. I keep waffling back and forth on it, some minutes I really like it but the next it doesn’t appeal at all. I think I will keep it for now and do a full hand swatch of it at some point.

The other one I’m iffy on is the color on my right ring finger, which is Sally Hansen Insta Dry Fuchsia Flare. It’s a bright pink crème and not fuchsia at all. It is neither blue nor orange, just pink. I like it, but it is fairly similar to shades in my second round. I reswatched this one against the neon pinks (see right thumb in that swatch picture below), and it is indeed very similar to several colors in that set. It is a true crème and not a neon color, but even so, shade wise it’s really close to a few other colors on that hand. I’m also pretty sure I haven’t worn it aside from these two swatches. Plus I hate the brush. So because of the brush issues, the fact that it doesn’t fill a desired color gap, and since I’m obviously not drawn to wear it, I will be purging it from my collection.

The other three are keepers. On the right pointer is OPI Sorry I'm Fizzy Today. I love this bright coral shade SO MUCH. And it is much more coral on the finger then it is in the bottle. In fact it was so orange that I switched up my plans a bit and swatched Essie Haute as Hello on the middle finger just to compare the two. Haute as Hello is obviously an orange though and thus completely different. They are definitely in the same color family, but Sorry I'm Fizzy Today is pinker. I got this polish as a set when I bought the whole Coca-Cola collection and I’ve never actually worn it. You would think that means I should get rid of it, but I just wasn’t aware of how pretty it is. So no, it’s staying. I'm keeping Haute as Hello (and technically wasn't even up for elimination), as it isn’t even a pink. And finally, on my right pinky is 10  Professional Nail Lacquer Color 417 which is a pink. It is a pale, opaque baby pink polish and completely unique in my collection. And I like it a lot more than I thought I was going to.

Let’s move onto the neon and bright pinks in my collection and round two. Because a true neon is finicky to work with I have swatched some of these polishes over one coat of Sinful Colors Snow Me White, though I probably should have been more uniform about it. There are a lot of dupes here.

I have two really truly, honestly unique shades in this round. They are the one on my left thumb, Formula X Solar Flare, and the one on my left pointer, Revlon African Tea Rose. Solar Flare is the only real shimmer in the bunch. Bright fuchsia and sparkly, I love this color unabashedly. African Tea Rose is from the Parfumerie line and is a fuchsia creme. It looks gorgeous on my hand and has the added bonus of being one of the scented polishes I really enjoy. I am keeping both of them.

The next two on my left hand look like they might be dupes of each other. I swear they’re not. On my left middle finger is China Glaze Rose Among Thorns, and on my left ring finger is Zoya Yana. I suspect Rose Among Thorns would look better over a white base, but I didn’t do that so it’s a little hard to judge. It’s a red-pink neon, and a true neon at that (hence why I think it needs a white base). I know that Yana looks almost identical to Rose Among Thorns, as they are both red-pinks. However, due to the fact that I didn’t use a white base under Rose Among Thorns, and that Yana is a crème as opposed to a red-pink neon, they’re actually quite different. No really, I swear. It’s a difference you can really see in sunlight. So, even though I probably shouldn’t, I’m keeping them both. If I were forced to choose I would probably select Yana, but I don’t have to choose so HA!

And then we come to my hot pink problem. There are five, FIVE, different nail polishes that fit this description. Six if you include the repeated Pink polish (which I kind of am, considering that is the reason I’m eliminating it). Of these six colors I am keeping two; the one on my right pointer, Sinful Colors Creme Pink swatched over a white base (though I don't think it needs the base), and the one on my right middle finger, China Glaze Pink Voltage also swatched over a white base. They are both hot neon pink shades but Pink Voltage is a bit paler and Creme Pink has a lovely, subtle gold shimmer in it. And can I just say that for two dollars, Sinful Colors produces some amazing polishes. They have some of my favorite colors in my collection.

There really isn’t a lot to say about the remaining polishes. The one on my left pinky is another NYX sample. It’s a hot, rose pink, and bonus doesn’t need a white base. But how many hot pinks do I need? The shade on my right ring finger is Sally Hansen Neon Pink Punch swatched over a white base and it was a pain to apply. The brush is that big, bulky brush and I absolutely hate it. And because the brush is so bulky some of the white base was picked up and transferred during the application, which led to spotty and uneven application. This color does have a lovely blue pearl throughout it, but because of the application difficulty I just don’t think it’s worth it. And the last one on my right pinky is Urban Decay Woodstock swatched over a white base. It’s a small sample size that was purchased with two other Urban Decay samples. I’d would keep it because it is a very nice polish, but it’s just not that unique. All of these are being culled.

All in all, I feel pretty good about this set round of nail polish purges. Most of the colors are unique enough that I can enjoy wearing them all. Of the colors I’m keeping, I feel like there are only two colors that are really close in color to each other, and I’m still ok with that. I may eventually get rid of Rose Among Thorns, but right now I have no problem keeping it.  I also think I have room in this collection for more bright pink shimmers. A lot of these here are crèmes, and while I like a good crème polish, shimmers are where my heart lies.

On a second note, I have identified a purchasing weakness. I keep buying these bright hot-pink shades.  This is doubly hilarious when you consider that I don’t actually wear the color all that often. Hopefully I can stop myself from buying more in this shade. I’m also hoping that by acknowledging my love for this shade (as evidenced by my repeated purchasing) I can convince myself to wear it more. I really love looking at my nails right now, it’s making me smile which is what nail polish should do.

And a third sub note, I hadn’t really thought much about how important a brush is. But doing a deep look at my collection like this has taught me that I don’t wear polishes if the brush annoys me. Two of these polishes are going mostly because of the brush. I’m pretty certain that if the brush were different I’d have found a reason to keep both of them, see also my justification for keeping both Rose Among Thorns and Yana.