Lili's Top 13 Untrieds of 2013

Hello and Happy New Year nail peeps!

I am Lili Anne and this is my second guest blog here on Nail Soup. I thought that in keeping with a New Year's theme: "In with the new, out with the"...well, untried...I have pulled out 13 of my top untried polishes for the New Year. I discovered, to my horror, that I have a great deal of untried polishes of which I've collected over the past 18 months or so when I began a phase of really loving lacquer. I counted a little over 50, not including nail art and stamping polishes. My goal is to use all of my untrieds before buying any new colors--this does not include treatments, top coats, etc., as a gal can never have too many of those. Here's my list of Lili's Top 13 Untrieds of 2013. These are the first polishes I will use in 2013, two of which I've already tried.

Barielle - Wrap Me In Ribbons (See photo above, left to right)

I bought this shimmery dark rose polish in a package from Barielle last year. I have ordered from their sight several times when they've had sales and I have never been disappointed. This shade was packaged in a box with about five other polishes and the first shipment I received contained a few broken bottles. While none of them were leaking, a couple had jagged edges on them. I called Barielle's customer service department and they shipped me a whole new package and let me keep the damaged goods. I believe I threw out the worst of the bottles so neither me nor my daughter would get cut but I kept the rest, so I have a couple of dupes. This is so pretty, I can't believe I haven't used it, so this one will be featured on this blog soon.

Layla Hologram Effect Nail Polish - Red Taboo

This was acquired during a flash sale that Ninja Polish had one night before Christmas. I bought three Layla polishes at 20% off their price with free shipping, along with a nail buffer which is suggested for use with the holographic polish. Once I received my order I realized the buffing file is similar to the buffing side on my Body Shop Nail Block so it's not necessary that you buy the Layla buffer if you have another. What you want to do, from my understanding, it lightly buff any ridges on your nail base so that the holo doesn't show any ridges or imperfections on your nails. Layla recommends that you use no base coat with their hologram effect nail polish. I'm a little skeptical but I will try this when I use this lovely looking lacquer. Red isn't always found in the holo world, so I wanted red for my first Layla holo. Stay tuned for this lovely Layla.

Avon Nailwear Pro+ - Tweed

I used to be an Avon/mark representative and I grew up with a sister and a mom who both sold Avon at one time or other when I was growing up. Avon was probably the first polish I used on my nails as a little girl. I remember they had a beautiful dark raisin creme polish similar to this shade, so I wanted to get Tweed to try to replicate that pretty, vampy shade I remembered from the 70s. From my experience with other Avon Nailwear polishes, I can expect this to be glossy and wear like iron. This polish will look great on is own but I can already picture some of the special indy glitters and additional finishes that will look great with this as a base. Tweed is very similar to the shade Cherries Jubilee but contains a tad more brown. I'm looking forward to using this one.

Literary Lacquers - Greatest Treasures

This is an indy brand that I'm just beginning to get familiar with. I bought a few LL beauties off of Esty in December and I am loving them. This holo polish is a robust orange color to my eye (in the bottle) but it's described on Esty as a semi-sheer red linear holographic polish from the Gift of the Magi Collection. It's beautiful in the bottle with tiny bits of green, yellow, blue, purple...colors of the rainbow...in it. I will definitely share pics of this manicure when I try it.

OPI - Bubble Bath

I bought this at JCP hair salon for $6. I got it along with a couple of the NYC Ballet Collection because I wanted a more robust candy pink that the jelly pink in the ballet collection. I had read a lot about Bubble Bath on a nail board and it is in lots of people's top ten polishes or at least top pastel polishes. I wanted this to use as a good, neutral base and it can't wait to see it with Pirouette My Whistle. This will probably be my first combo when I try this beauty.

Color Club - Cloud Nine

This was the first untried of 2013 that I decided to try. I was a little intimated by a "good" holographic polish because I heard they were a little hard to deal with. I lightly buffed my nails and applied Avon Smooth Beginnings base coat which I let dry completely before putting my first thin coat of Cloud Nine over. This polish practically applied itself. It went on so smooth and easy like knew where and (most importantly) where not to go. I was "Wowed" after the first coat and blown away after the second coat. Here's a photo of my mani.

I loved the look of it. I added a coat of NYC Grand Central Station the following morning to help protect the polish but it began chipping badly on the third day. Most of my manicures last a lot longer than this but I will experiment with different  base coats/top coats and see what happens. I will try Orly Bonder next time and perhaps Revlon No Chip Extra Life TC will help keep it from chipping. I want to mention that I purchased this through CrowdCut. I was very unhappy at how long it took to receive my order and super disappointed with their customer service when I checked on the order. After I received this, along with a bottle of Harp On It, I promptly removed myself from their email list. I did get a great deal on two bottles of holo polish but poor turnaround time.

Revlon Scented - Gum Drop

I bought this last spring at the height of my polish hoarding, I think. I wanted the perfect pastel purple/lavender and then it sat, unused, after it came home from Walgreens. I'm sure I had a coupon for I never pay full price unless it's a really spectacular, unusual polish. I'm excited to see how this goes on as I've had a problem with Revlon bubbling on me. I used the new Colorstay formula last night which is described below and it did not bubble, so maybe my bad luck with Revlon is over. I'm looking forward to experiencing the scent of Gum Drop in the near future, too.

KleanColor - Dessert

I bought this online from California with a bunch of other KCs about a year ago, I think. When I was in the height of my polish hoarding, it's all a blur. Thankfully I was pretty good about keeping a diary on Makeup Alley but it's not important in this instance when I purchased this, except for the fact that it has sat, waiting for me to use this beauty. It's a shimmery beige with a touch of gold. It would be pretty as part of a tape mani or a gradient. I see lots of fun things in this polish's future.

Revlon Colorstay - Bonsai

I do lots of Packer manicures to support my favorite football team from Green Bay, Wisconsin. Lots of green and gold, and variations thereof. I pined for this posh polish for weeks before I finally found it at Walgreens on sale AND i had a coupon (SCORE!) Bonsai is almost a creme but it has a very slight hidden shimmer of yellow to highlight the green. I picture a bonsai tree in a Japanese garden with sunshine shimmering on the leaves. I used this last night with Avon Smooth Beginnings base coat, two coats of color, one coat of Seche Vite and one coat of NYC Grand Central Station. I added the second top coat this morning when I discovered the dreaded shrinkage that SV is often guilty of. The GCS make this passable until the Packer game tomorrow, then I will grab one of these other untrieds and move on. I need to get out my Seche Restore and try to thin it down in hopes of getting rid of the shrinkage. Here's a pic of my mani.

Here are my last four 2013 Top Untried Polishes

Nabi Magnetic - Sky Blue

I got three of these magnetic polishes at Walgreens when I heard they were there and that they wouldn't be getting any more one they were gone. With my hoarder mentality, I had to grab three AND I have only used one on one nail as an accent. The magnetic effect does work pretty well as my DD tried this shade shortly after i bought this one. It's a pretty teal which is one of my favorite colors. I will be busting this out sooner that later and seeing how the magnetic effect looks on my shorter nails. I don't own any other magnetic polish, so I will embrace these three Nabi's that I have.

Ninja Polish - Alexandrite

It could be that I don't have a life...but I do. It probably was the excitement of getting that HTF polish. One day I literally camped out on Ninja Polishes' sight when I learned they only had enough crystals to make about one more batch of this glorious polish. I finally got my hands on it and as soon as it hit my shelf my interest waned. I may have used this on one  or two nails as accents but this polish deserves a full mani and a blog review of its own STAT. This will be done.

Zoya - Song

This is from one of Zoya's newest collections. Song is a gorgeous blue with a bit of shimmer but not over the top glitter. I love blue and I'm sure this will become one that I will reach for this year many times. You will be seeing Song on my nails very soon as it is so pretty in the bottle. I have lots of accent ideas with glitter and other top coats to use with Song. This looks like it would be a good pedicure polish, too.

Manglaze - Fuggin' Ugly

Once again, this was a polish that I just HAD TO HAVE suddenly one day when I saw a photo posted on MUA or a nail blog and I fell in love. It is matte unless you add top coat and it is gorgeous either way. I ordered a few Manglaze polishes through Amazon and they were discounted at that time. I have used Lesbihonest and Matte is Black but this lovely has been waiting for me to pick it up. It will be done soon, beauty.

I hope you enjoy my top picks and I will show you my reviews as I use each one. Thank you for reading this and I look forward to hearing your comments.

Polish on, pretty ladies,

Lili Anne