OPI Atomic Orange

31 day challenge. 
Day two: orange nails.

As was true with the red nails, orange is not a prominent color in my collection. Though my fair skin tone can pull off a cherry red (which makes me feel sexy), orange usually isn't something that I find attractive. Nor is it a color I usually reach for outside of nail art or Halloween. I probably should, as orange is Mr. Manicure's favorite color, but I never found an "attractive" orange. Until now.

OPI Atomic Orange is a vibrant, red-based orange creme. It was released with the OPI Brights collection, and it definitely is just that. Though Atomic Orange is a vivid, summery color., it doesn't feel like a neon, and is quite wear-able. I wore it to work today and got several compliments on the color from fellow teachers.

I don't know why it's almost coming 

out as salmon-y - it's not at all.

 
And then, because I thought another plain colored mani would be monotonous, I decided to spice things up with an accent of Zoya Destiny.  This is a PixieDust finish in a coraly-orange color, with gold glitter. As with all of Zoya's PixieDusts, this polish seems to radiate in all lights, and therefore, makes it virtually impossible to photograph correctly. Destiny is a lovely orange, not over the top, but look how she shines!

 

One thick coat of Zoya Destiny over OPI Atomic Orange. 

You can still get Zoya Destiny from their website. I purchased my bottle of OPI Atomic Orange at Target, but if you can't find it there, it's available at most internet shops. 

Essie Scarlet O'Hara

It's been a while. And I know the "life is getting crazy" excuse can only cut it for so long, since I see blogger friends of mine who have busier jobs and just had babies who are schooling me on this whole blog thing. So, to keep me motivated to keep up with my blog regularly, I've decided to take the September 31 day nail polish challenge. Although, I probably will stray a little, and make up my own daily themes for a few of them.

Day one: red nails.

I don't own very many reds in my collection - around 6, maybe? When I wear them, I tend to reach for my bright cherry, pin up girl reds or as a glitter topper. Today, I decided to finally break out of my comfort zone, and try out Essie Scarlet O'Hara. I know, I know, I've had this on the shelf for a while, and I've only swatched it onto a nail stick (for shame!). I totally bought this strictly for the name, since I LOVE the book Gone With the Wind, and adored Vivien Leigh's performance as Scarlett in the movie.

Essie Scarlet O'Hara is a deep, ruby red with lots of shimmer. The polish went on flawlessly - no pooling, not too sheer and with two coats, it looked wonderful.

 Two coats of Essie Scarlet O'Hara with
top coat.

The color of Scarlet reminds me of those beautiful red candied apples you see around Halloween, but never buy because you know you will break your teeth and can't afford the emergency dental care. I believe the people at Essie were trying to capture this in a bottle, and they were spot on:

 

Va-voom Vivien! 

Now, I want to watch GWTW for the 1,000th time, while staring at my nails.