Lily Pads Love I Lily Love You

Last weekend was perfect - it was super sunny and not too hot! We took a trip back to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden (hey, that last post reminded me how much I loved it...) and found this fantastic water lily, which simply must have been the inspiration for OPI's latest hit polish "I Lily Love You" ;)

Worn over your favorite color, OPI "I Lily Love You" creates a fabulous confetti manicure with it's square shaped glitter and larger randomly shaped flaky pieces. The texture of the flakies reminds me of very fine Easter grass and has that same prismatic appearance.

When applying this polish, I recommend kind of dabbing it on so you get a more even distribution of glitter and flakies.

Like any great flaky polish, "I Lily Love You" looks great with a matte top coat!

Pairing "I Lily Love You" is not to be limited to pink polishes! Pictured below, "I Lily Love You" is worn over China Glaze "For Audrey" and OPI "Do You Lilac It". I loved blogger Neglelakkmani's swatch over black.

Worth mentioning: This polish was pretty tough to remove. Break out all your tricks for removing glitter polish here, because once those little flaky pieces attach, they do not want to come off easily :) Also, a few of the flakies didn't quite go on smoothly and stuck up. I actually took a file to smooth out some pointy flakies so I didn't catch them on anything. But these small sacrifices are worth it for an amazing nail polish!

Did you pick up "I Lily Love You"? Leave a comment if you found a great color to wear this over!

Pure Ice Crackles

When I spotted an untouched display of Pure Ice Crackle polishes at Walgreens, my heart skipped a beat or two out of excitement. Although I feel that calling this collection "Crackle" was a bit of a missed marketing opportunity - the brand is called Pure Ice, wouldn't "Iceberg" have been an appropriate and original choice? I'm just saying...

Pure Ice Shattered is a chartreuse green (Shrek green, if you will). The naming of this color disappointed me - Slime would have been a great pick! I hadn't seen a crackle polish in this shade and thought it would make for some really fun color pairings :) This polish yielded large cracks on me, especially on my middle finger. I really liked how jagged some of the cracks are though. In this case, the unique color trumps odd cracking and I probably could do a better job shaking the bottle next time or use a thinner.

Base colors used pointer to ring: OPI "Shorts Story", Mattese Elite "Puccilicious", Essence "Let’s Get Lost", OPI "OPI on Collins Ave"

Pure Ice Hot Couture is a bright and vivid pink. This shade is a very similar pink to other crackle polishes, but at $3.99 this is an inexpensive alternative. Because I tried this after the green, I wondered if maybe using thinner coats is the trick with this brand so on my pointer finger you'll see I used a thin coat of polish. This gave me thin cracks... so I went back to using "normal" coats (not too thick, not too thin) and was VERY happy with the result!

Base colors used from pointer to ring: Mattese Elite "Twiggie", China Glaze "Grape Pop", Color Club unknown (Edie? Wild Child?), OPI "Conquistadorable Color"

Pure Ice Iceberg Crackle polishes are $3.99. Final words? The price can't be beat and I think they're as good as any other crackle polishes out there. If was a bigger fan of crackle polish, I would go buy them all :)

PS - Drive safely!!!

Top Ten Beauty Products and Blog Love

I was tagged with the Top Ten award by Abby from Lovely in Lacquer, Une Ruxi à Paris, Fiona from Ha Bisky! Nails, Ina from My Nail Polish Online, and *UPDATE* Good Lack, Nail!. Recently, I was also tagged by Liz from the Beauty Reductionista and *UPDATE* Varnish Me Up for the Versatile Blogger Award. Thank you so much for thinking of me! For this tag, I am to list my top ten cosmetics and tag ten blogs in return.

While I was asking myself “How will I ever pick ten of my favorite beauty products”, it struck me that I should pick the products I reach for every day! In no particular order, here are my picks:

Carmex Lip Balm

I’ve tried many lip balm products over the years and once I tried Carmex, I stopped looking! This lip balm really moisturizes and doesn’t simply make your lips slick and slimy like other lip products.

Cover Girl Lash Blast Luxe in Black Platinum (mascara)

The Last Blast wand is fabulous. This mascara has a little sparkle to it (no, it’s not tacky, I promise!) and doesn’t cause any funky clumping. While there are a few other mascaras floating around my makeup drawer, this is my go-to.

Lush Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter

After using Lemony Flutter, I remember thinking that having great looking cuticles was possible, and that I bet I could take care of my nails better, then because of the nice cuticles and nails, enter nail polish…

MAC Cute-ster (lipstick)

I’m not a lipstick/lipgloss person but I love MAC Cute-ster. It applies smoothly like a lipstick and has the look of a lipgloss! Perfect, too bad it's LE :(

MAC Expensive Pink (eye shadow)
This deep gold and peach eye shadow is my favorite shadow to use when I'm going to work but want to add a little color. This is a super unique color that looks great in the crease with browns or all over the lid.

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural (powder)

I use this product every day, either over a liquid foundation or alone as a powder foundation. It evens out my skintone and doesn't leave that undesirable "powdery" finish.

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Petticoat (blush)

This rosey pink blush has the amazing mineralize shimmer to it. I love how it makes my complexion glow!

Revlon ColorStay Liquid Eye Pen (eyeliner pen)

I can achieve the jet-black line of a liquid eyeliner quickly and mess-free. This product last a long time and is on par with the more expensive eyeliner pens I’ve tried.

Stila Wheat (eyeshadow)

Wheat is a shimmery taupe eyeshadow. This is the most-worn eye shadow in my collection that I would wear everyday if my other eye shadows didn’t make me feel guilty when I ignore them.

Too Faced Shadow Insurance (eye shadow primer)

TFSI is a great eye shadow primer. As you know it’s comparable to UDPP, however I prefer TFSI because of the tube. I recently bought the giant UDPP, but the nozzle broke off after only a few uses L I am still able to get product out, but over time it has thickened significantly.

Here are the bloggers I would like to pass this award along to! I just want to say that I've discovered so many great blogs through these award tags, so I hope some of these blogs are new to you and that you'll check them out.

AccroPolish - Two Swiss sisters share their polishes and their art - this blog is growing like wildfire!

Dizzy Nails - Lauren creates fresh combinations of colors using anything in her stash from crackles to glitters.

gnoma - I love this Italian blogger's "snap shot" style pictures and valuable, concise reviews.

Hedonism, Limited - This is a newish blog to me! Nola's pictures and nails are first class.

Here Comes the Sun - I love the designs Hayley shares, as well as the flowers in her garden!

loodie loodie loodie - I've learned so much from Anna about nail products. Even if you think you know a lot, head on over to her blog and I bet you'll still read something new :)

Nail Corner - this Finnish blogger maximizes the real estate on her beautiful long nails, bringing us awesome manicures like this ocean wave design.

Nail Polish Art Addiction - get your creative on and enter Leslie's nail art contests, or be inspired by her amazing creations!

Ommorphia Beauty Bar - Eugenia's nail polish and makeup reviews are thorough and her pictures are top notch.

The Phalanges Files - Files and files of great polish pictures and reviews!

*phew* Now you have plenty of blogs to read this weekend if you were needing some! :)

Chanel Mistral is in Full Bloom at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden

If you're a June baby, you'll know that the rose is June's flower! The Brooklyn Botanical Garden is a beautiful and colorful retreat from the rest of the city, and one of the most stunning features is the rose garden. The roses are in their full glory in the month of June - there are thousands and thousands of roses on display in every shade, shape, and size. When my boyfriend and I visited, we wandered around for hours because there are so many varieties to admire.

June is my birth month and last year I was given the pretty Chanel Mistral as a gift :) Chanel Mistral is a putty-pink polish with tiny blue and yellow glitter that looks like sprinkles. This was my first Chanel polish and I must say, the brush is perfection.

This polish applied smoothly and held up well after many days of wear. Sadly, the sparkles are much more apparent in the bottle than on the nail.

Visit the Brooklyn Botanical Garden at 900 Washington Avenue. If you enter on Saturday before noon, it's free :)

Click for more roses!

Where to Buy Nail Polish in NYC Map and a Borough Poll

After countless weekends and afternoons searching for nail polish stores to share with you (and thanks to the Google Map technology), I would like to officially introduce you to the Gotham Polish Where to Buy Nail Polish in NYC Map! With (22) stores and counting - not including the hundreds of drug stores - I hope the map will be another great resource for you if you live in NYC, if you're coming to visit, or you're just curious :)

Go ahead! Click on the big "MAP" button!

Currently the map includes stores in Manhattan. I will keep updating the map (and "Where to Shop" page) as I stumble across/am tipped off to awesome nail polish retailers. To my fellow New Yorkers in other boroughs: if I could, I would spend every day traveling everywhere my Metro Card would take me to find nail polish stores. I'll be expanding my polish search throughout the summer for you!

Which leads to the poll! The poll will be active for (1) week. I'd love to hear from you so I can find nail polish retailers that are in your area :)

What Borough Are You From?

As always, let me know if there's a great store in NYC Gotham Polish readers should know about! This blog is a resource for all and New York is a BIG place :)

Essie "Your Hut or Mine" gets Literal in Aruba

Essie "Your Hut or Mine" is a perfectly appropriate polish to finish what has turned out to be Aruba week :) One of the great features about the beaches in Aruba (after the turquoise water and white sand, of course) is that picturesque huts offer shady relief from the tropical sun. I know I was able to enjoy the beach a lot more because I was able to take breaks from the sun :)

"Your Hut or Mine" is from Essie's 2011 Resort Collection. This peachy-pink polish is unlike any of the other pinks in my collection - it's muted without being dull or "old" looking. And the subtle splash of warm shimmer adds a lively touch to this chic shade.

I picked up this polish at Cosmetic Market on 37th between 5th and Madison, which is another store I can thank reader bigiyedfish on MUA for informing me of (pssst: it's now listed on the Gotham Polish map!) Cosmetic Market deserves it's own dedicated post... but briefly, random Essie polishes are $3.50. I noticed after I got home that this polish bottle is without the signature raised "Essie" text - it's completely bare on all four sides! The cap still has the salon-version "e".... oh well, perhaps this is why it was $3.50 :)

I hope you've enjoyed some pictures from my recent trip to Aruba!

Don't be Crabby - Aruba's Sand is Polish-Perfect

Yes, we did see crabs in Aruba! We took a trip to the Natural Pool, which is this surreal pool of water protected from the rough seas by Aggro Crag-worthy rocks. Tourists and sea creatures alike love the Natural Pool, including little nasty crustaceans that crawl around the rocks.

Mattese Elite Playa del Chrome is a sandy beige creme polish that I picked up on sale at Ricky's for $0.99 (I love the days I go to Ricky's and there are new colors marked down!!!) I initially was psyched more about the price than the color, but I ended up loving this one and consequently have joined team nude polish*. The wear time was fantastic: I wore this polish about (3) days before chipping set in. But that led me to discover another bonus of nude polish: the chips aren't super apparent (as compared to, say, a dark color) so you can get more days of wear in if needed without looking a mess :)

Side note: Does the name "Playa del Chrome" remind you of anything? How about... "Playa del Platinum"? Mattese Elite also has polishes named "Legandary Alice" (blue glitter), "Nutty Hat Guy" (multi-colored glitter), "Wet Dream" (OK wow they went there), and I saw one last week called "Next Saturday Morning" or something to that effect, which was another Katy Perry dupe... curious, no?

You can purchase Mattese Elite polishes exclusively at Ricky's in stores and online.

Oh, and don't miss the new Gotham Polish Map!

*But only the extracurricular division - I'm not giving up bolds and blues for good here, folks.

An Essie Polish the Color of the Caribbean Sea

I think my polishes are having trouble accepting they don't have arms and legs.

The blues and greens of the Caribbean sea are the most beautiful and soothing colors to gaze at. Does being closer to the Equator have a way of making us see colors more vividly? Maybe it's the stark contrast to the murky East River I'm accustomed to ... whatever the reason, I love every color I saw in Aruba - on land and in the sea :)

You can wear the Caribbean sea on your nails with Essie's "Turquoise and Caicos". This blue-green polish perfectly captures the alluring tropical waters in 0.5 ounces (wasn't that a Mad Men-esque pitch?).

Back from Aruba!

I'm back in NYC after a week in Aruba! After a long cold winter and too many hours of work, Aruba was just what I needed to lift my spirits. The colors were so vivid and incredible - the sea and the sky were so blue and all the plants were so green.

I giggled when I saw this "MAC IS COMING" sign on a storefront in Oranjestad :)

What polishes did I choose for Aruba? On my toes I wore China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy, and on my fingers I wore the incredibly long-lasting American Apparel Neon Red!!!

Check out how Neon Red stood up to Aruba in a post-vacation nail polish pic...

Top 5 Summer 2011 Nail Trends and NYC Events

The summer season is off to a terrific (and hot) start! Sweaters and wool pants are swapped out for bright short sleeved tops and cotton skirts. There's also a similar change-over of sorts in my nail polish drawer. While there are no rules in nail polish land, I've selected five colors that (in my opinion) are fabulous summer picks, shared a picture of each trend from my stash, and linked to fellow bloggers for you to see some other options!

Gotham Polish's Top 5 Summer 2011 Nail Trends:

#5 Warm Neons

Last summer, bright turquoise and purples were all the rage. Summer 2011 is for hot corals, hot oranges, and hot reds! Warm neon polishes take the #5 spot.

American Apparel "Neon Red"

Imperfectly Painted: China Glaze "Pool Party"
Pampered and Polished: Zoya "Paz"
Polished Beauty Blog: Orly "Passion Fruit"

#4 Holographic Nudes

Nudes are back in style for summer, but also in high demand are holographic polishes (seemingly more than ever). Combining these two popular trends, I'm giving spot #4 to all the holographic nudes in the world.

An unnamed nude holo by Goldie

Also Known As: Butter London "All Hail the Queen"

My Lucid Bubble: various (don't miss this - she covers them all!)
Nail Spotting: Color Club "Love 'Em Leave 'Em"


#3 Dusty Sea-Foam Greens

Mint green, watch out because there's a new "it green" in town - the murky, dusty, sea-foamy green! In the last few months there has been a blitz of shades in this color family. Because this is a fresh new color that washed up right out of the sea, it earns spot #3.

Essie "Absolutely Shore"

Musings from Manhattan: Essie "Da Bush"
Nailstah: Rescue Beauty "Diddy Mow"
Past, Present, Future: OPI "Mermaid's Tears"

#2 Shatter/Crackle/Fracture/Smashing/Iceberg Top Coats
Love it or hate it, this is the latest trend right now in the nail polish world. With so many color options to chose from, and then an infinite number of possible color pairings, this is a trend that anyone could make work. The crackle/shatter/all-other-synonyms-for-crackle-and-shatter look is the #2 summer trend!

Fashion Polish: Sam gives us an overview of all options out there
Lovely in Lacquer: OPI "Silver Shatter" over OPI "Cuckoo for this Color"
Never Unpolished: Lava Nails using OPI Black Shatter

#1 Bright Orangey-Reds

I'm seeing gals sporting orangey-red polish everywhere I go. Classy and chic, the orangey-red color is attention grabbing and edgy. Since the weather has been worn, I have seen this color around New York City without fail every day :) I'm going with bright orangey-red polishes as the #1 summer 2011 trend.

Sephora by OPI "Fiercely Fabulous"

Getcha Nails Did: Ruby Kisses "Fuzzy Navel"
Ommorphia Beauty Bar: Deborah Lippmann "Lara's Theme"
Rikki Nails: Essie "Meet Me at Sunset"

And now in no particular order, here are my top 5 summer event picks in New York City - and they are all free to attend!