Since we have begun the unofficial start of Summer in the States, I thought I would post something summer-related today. Thus, we have a plethora of nail polish shades that I find excellent for the Summer! I have narrowed it down to 15 different colors, and they are all on the bright side because when I think of Summer, I think of brightness and sunshine! :) Please let me know in the comments if you would like some more subdued options as well, and I'll see what I can do! So, without further ado, let's get on to the colors!!!
I have swatched everything on a wheel because it would take forever to paint my nails with each color for photos. If I can find a photo of the shade on my nails, I will include it. So....
1) First on the wheel is a polish from Butter London. It is "Scouse," which is a beautiful micro-glittery blue with a fuchsia duochrome. I love this color! It's slightly unexpected and definitely a great summer shade.
2) Next, we have Illamasqua's "Cameo" which a beautiful almost periwinkle-like shade of medium blue, but it is very bold in intensity and looks kind of bright on the nails. Love!
3) For a nice teal color, and a great dupe for Butter London's "Slapper," is "Good Bud-dy" from Flower Beauty. This is pretty much identical in color to "Slapper," which is one of my favorite colors, but I actually almost prefer the formula of the Flower polish! And it's about $10 less in price!!!
Left: "Good Bud-dy;" Right: Butter London's "Slapper
4) Sticking to the greener side of things, we have Pop Beauty's "Mint Magic." This is a great Summer mint because it is quite bright - almost a neon mint, if that's possible. My bottle is a little on the thick side, but nothing unworkable. I don't know if that's typical of Pop polishes because this is the only one I own. The color is definitely worth any extra hassle from the formula though!!! :)
5) It's not Summer without a great yellow. My absolute favorite yellow of all time is from Julep and it is called "Blake." It's a bright, but not too bright yellow. It's just a great yellow and it's perfect for both Spring and Summer.
6) Moving on to an orange, my favorite orange has to be Zoya's "Heidi." This orange doesn't look hideous on pale skin and I think it would look great on deeper skin as well. I would say this is a pretty unadulterated orange and it's gorgeous!
7) The next shade is similar, but has a bit more red to it. It is "Hibiscus" from Gabriel. I showed this in my last Nails of the Week post and mentioned that it chipped quickly, but I really think it was just the base coat I used. Other polishes that normally don't chip have been chipping with it as well. (Technically it's not really a base coat - and if you're wondering, it's the Julep Oxygen Nail Treatment. It's great for helping repair nails, just not the best under polish.) Back to "Hibiscus." It is perfectly named because it reminds me of the exact color of a hibiscus flower!
8) The next color is another Zoya polish. (Sorry for all the Zoya shades, but I love Zoya and it makes up the bulk of my collection - plus they have so many colors!) This is Zoya's "Lo." It looks quite similar to "Hibiscus," but it is more of a pink-based coral. Love, love, love this for Summer!
9) Another Flower Beauty polish in "What the Daffodilly-O?" is my next choice. This is also a great dupe for Butter London's "Trout Pout" and I find that the Flower version is not as streak-prone as the Butter London polish. "What the Daffodilly-O?" is a beautiful coral shade with a bit more pink than the prior shades.
The horrible polka dots used "Gorgeous Gerbera,"
also from Flower Beauty (also a great Summer shade!)
Left: "What the Daffodilly-O?"; Right: Butter London's
"Trout Pout"
10) If you're looking for a bright neon pink, you need not look any further! Zoya's "Ali" is the perfect neon pink! It has a pretty much matte finish, but looks beautiful with a glossy top coat as well. I absolutely adore this color in the blazing Summer heat! :)
11) Moving on to another shade from Butter London, we have "Disco Biscuit." This is a beautiful sheer, but buildable fuchsia with lots of teeny tiny micro-glitter that gives a slight texture and really unique sparkle to the nails. It's not over-the-top glittery, just subtly sparkly and perfectly appropriate for many age ranges. I've never seen another shade quite like it and it's beautiful on the nails!
You can't really see the sparkle, but it's there!
12) Sticking with bright and bold shades of pink, we have "Lola" from Zoya. I love "Lola" (are we sick of reading that yet? ;)). It's a bright kind of Barbie-pink, although I'm torn as to what I really consider to be Barbie-pink, but it has a subtle blue shift to it. It's a really beautiful and unique color. And, yet again, it's a great Summer color!
13) Now for some deeper pinkish-berry shades. My absolute favorite in this category is Zoya's "Sachi." I adore this shade! I think of it as an opaque watermelon-like shade with a touch of berry to it. Maybe it's more of a raspberry. Regardless, it's beautiful!!! It would fit in nicely as Fall rears it's ugly head as well! :)
14) For a purple-y berry, I really like Orly's "Purple Crush." It is also mostly matte in finish, but looks great with a glossy top coat. Like "Sachi," this would transition well into Fall and Winter as well. It's just a beautiful all-season kind of berry-purple.
15) Finally, we have a bit of an odd-ball polish. I say that because it is the only metallic foil finish I have chosen. Golds are always great in the Summer, and if you're looking for one, Zoya's "Ziv" is excellent. I wanted something a little different, so I chose a different Zoya metallic. It is a stunning rose-gold foil metallic named "Tinsley" and it is stunning! It is more rose than gold, but both tones are definitely there. It's nothing like some of the other oft-mentioned rose-gold polishes like Orly's "Rage," which has much less of the rose to it. This would be gorgeous in the Spring and Summer. It's semi-sheer with one coat, but it is still even in color so you can wear it slightly lighter than I have swatched it if you so choose. For Summer, I think the deeper two-coat option looks beautiful and I haven't encountered another similar shade, so it's another winner from Zoya!!! :)
And that's it! There you have my bright polish picks for the Summer of 2013! I hope you enjoyed these colors, and please leave me comments about what colors you love in the Summer!!! :)