Fall Nail Polish Picks (Picture Heavy)

[All purchased by me]


Since Starbucks has kicked off their brilliant PSL 10 campaign, the smell (and taste) of autumn is in the air for sure.  I have a thing for vampy nail shades.  I find paler shades harder to choose actually.  That being said, I am wearing the new nude nail polish I mentioned in my last post, which is OPI's Dulce de Leche.  I really like the rosy caramel shade and think it's much better suited for me as nudes go.  It reminds me a lot of Clinique's Curviest Caramel as well.

Berry Shades:

Rimmel Burgundy Flirt 

This may be discontinued, but I'm not sure and it's not the most unique color so no worries there.  Also, the formula chips very easily.  I think Rimmel's new polish formula is supposed to be better and I really want to try it.  I definitely chose this for the color not the formula because sometimes you just really crave burgundy nails.

OPI Casino Royale

This was part of the James Bond collection last year, but OPI polishes are pretty easy to find post collection release.  This color is kind of a twist on the average berry as it leans more purple.  It looks sophisticated on the nails and OPI has a great, consistent formula.

Revlon Scandalous

If cream formulas bore you, this is a cool glitter option.  The purple glitters are suspended in a black jelly base that reaches opacity pretty easily.  For a sparser glitter look, use a black base.  Revlon polishes are also pretty top notch as drugstore polishes go.

Duochrome:

Color Club Editorial

Supposedly a dupe of Chanel's Peridot, I actually wanted to buy it after I missed out on OPI's Just Spotted the Lizard.  A gorgeous blend of green with a tinge of blue and a gold shine.  This is definitely a true metallic with no discernible shimmer particles.

Hard Candy Beetle

Hard Candy recently re-did their nail polishes at Wal-Mart, but I think there is a similar shade still in the range.  This is supposed to be similar to Orly Space Cadet.  This isn't so much metallic as it is a mix of shimmers.  It looks purple and shines green/pink/gold depending on the lighting.  Even though it's shimmery, it's not hard to remove.

Blacks and Greys:

Revlon Moon Dust 

Revlon Moon Dust

 My recommendation is because of the black base since it is opaque in one coat.  It is super smooth and gorgeous as a basic black goes.  The holographic side is ok but the particles are a little too big and don't look a little random on the nail.

OPI The World is Not Enough

Another one from the James Bond collection last year, this was very difficult to photograph. Even searching images online doesn't give you a super clear idea of what exactly this looks like.  I think of it as a dark grey with a silver sheen made up of very fine particles.  This looks really gorgeous and interesting on the nails and I think these deeper greys are great for when you don't want a harsh black.

NYC Park Ave

I think this is great for lovers of OPI's You Don't Know Jacques and is supposedly a dupe.  It's basically a taupey grey with a purple undertone that looks very put-together and "polished" (haha punny).  It goes with everything and is great for sweater weather.

Navy

Essence Just Rock It!

This is a fun navy blue that I got during my "navy" phase.  The phase was short-lived until revived recently with my next pick.  Essence has redone their nail polish line (why do I feel like my polishes are outdated?) and the bottles look different.  This formula does dry faster than the average deep nail polish but it chips easily (all dark polishes do on me).

Butter London Royal Navy

This was part of my first Butter London purchase (along with Molly Coddled) yesterday since Ulta was doing their 21 Days of Beauty Promotion.  It's a deeper navy than the Essence one and I got it since I'd seen it in a trio set years ago.  It's such a deep navy, which is how I like to wear greens and blues in the fall.  The hunt for an emerald polish begins (like I need another nail polish in my life)!  This is the only one I haven't tried since I just got it yesterday but I will keep you guys updated.

Brights

Ulta Let the Flames Begin

I love a true red in the colder months.  This is definitely a brighter true neutral red that looks better on shorter nails in my opinion.  It dries with a nice shine and wears pretty well on me for a red.

Wet n Wild On a Trip

This might be a strange one to wear in the Fall but I think with lilac ruling the roost as purples go in the Spring/Summer and berries taking over in the Fall/Winter, this shade of purple doesn't get it's own place.  It looks great and striking on the nails and isn't as blue as the picture shows.  I've been wearing it as my pedicure shade and really love it.  The formula, staying power and brush remind me of OPI. 


Hope you guys made it through this overly long post and get some nail inspiration!  I didn't really look into what the Fall trends are this year, just went with my personal favorites.

What's in my Unii Palettes?

[One purchased by me, one given by a friend]

The Unii palette is the sleeker, modern version of the DIY palettes floating around the web.  It also happens to be kinda pricey and the only reason I ended up with two is because I bought one myself one Christmas thinking I wouldn't receive one ever as a gift.  Lo and behold that Christmas a good friend who knows me oh so well, purchased one for me!  

My curiosity was ignited by the de-potting craze that swept the beauty community with its promises of improved storage capacity, Back to MAC realness and fun flatiron times.  I actually depotted all my shadows with rubbing alcohol which was pretty easy and only ended up with a few casualties.  

In the end (and zero burns later) I ended up putting a lot of the products with the bulkiest packaging in my collection into these two palettes and I thought this was a good idea for a post for those interested in a Unii palette.

In the white palette I have some of my brights:

The two big pans you see are part of the Hard Candy Punk Palette which was actually from back in the day when Hard Candy was sold in Sephoras.  Don't judge me!  I am a hoarder I know.  The highlighter in this is too pretty to throw away and I don't reach for this too often because of the full-on glow it gives.  The bottom left three shadows are from the Covergirl Tropical Fusion quad.  I never got the lime color to work for me so it went in the bin.  The semi-circle shade is from a L'oreal HIP duo in Flamboyant.  I hit pan more because the color doesn't show up very well unless you back it on versus actual usage.  The turquoise shade is from Sephora which revamped their entire eyeshadow line so I'm not sure if the shade even matters.  The lilac shadow is from a very random eyeshadow palette that was probably from Claire's or something.  The right three square pans are actually a Covergirl blush trio.  The shades are really soft and nice looking and I actually should use this more.

The pink Unii palette houses my brown tones and some dark purples:

The black shade is from Covergirl and I actually never wrote the name in.  The middle purple shade belongs with the other two smaller square pans on the other side as part of the Hard Candy Punk Palette.  The glittery purple is an Inglot shadow a friend got me in Vegas in shade 491.  On the other side, the top left square pan is NYX Iced Mocha, a supposed dupe for MAC's Satin Taupe.  The round matte shade is an old Jane eyeshadow that makes a great crease color.  The shade stamped EYELID is from the Wet n Wild trio I'm Getting Sunburned which a friend sent me but the other two shades shattered.  I made these pics smaller because there's a lot of uh-ohs in my de-potting here.  Lastly that gold shade is the other half of the L'oreal Hip duo.

So, in general, would I recommend the Unii palette to everyone?  Yes and no.  These are expensive at about $30 each.  If you're someone who has a lot of eyeshadows to depot the cost can really add up.  Also, since they're sturdy plastic with full size mirrors, these are definitely a little hefty for a palette.  It beats any cardboard palette I have in terms of weight.  However, these really do look nice, are compact, and are a fun way store the small part of your makeup collective that takes up a huge amount of space with their unnecessary packaging.  

I have some space in the pink palette for more shadows.... I'm thinking MAC?