Colors that I never thought I'd like

I'm back after a long haitus! I wish I could say that I was doing something useful/ exciting, but unfortunately, my nail polish collection has grown exponentially and I've just been reading and writing the 92389284 papers that grad school requires.  Anyway, onto something less depressing! Since I've been gone so long, this post has 5 polishes in one entry! If you told me that I would ever be wearing these polishes 6 months ago, I would have laughed at you... But then again, I have total nail polish ADD..

OPI- Russian Navy

OPI- Russian Navy was one of the many nail polishes that I got for Christmas (I know, I'm such a teenager at heart)! It was highly anticipated.  It is definitely sophisticated.  I guess I was just expecting something different.  It was much darker than was shown from swatches online.  I'm starting to learn a major rule of thumb when it comes to nail polish colors: The ACTUAL shade of the polish is almost always 1-2 shades darker than it looks in the bottle!

Anyway.. the formula was good, on the thick side.  When it tried, the texture reminded me of a Jolly Rancher if that makes any sense at all.  A 1 coater for sure.  I planned to use 2 coats, but used 3 due to bubbling issues.  The pictures below show 3 coats+ 1 coat of seche vite.

OPI Russian Navy, in sunlight, without flash

Essie Swatches

I'm back and I have lots to show you all! Below are some swatches of my recent Essie purchases.  I used seche vite as a topcoat on all of the polishes:

Essie- Smooth Sailing.

I had been drooling over this polish forever! The color is a lot darker than it looks in the bottle.  It is a dark periwinkle with a very hidden shimmer.  The formula was AMAZING! It's definitely a one-coater, I used 2 coats in the pictures below+ 1 coat seche vite top coat.
 

In the dark, with flash

See more Essie swatches after the break: