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Nail Polishes | 2014 Editor's Favorites
I think there’s a trend in my favorites this year: shimmer, dusty/faded/muted shades, and anything but classic red creams. I found myself loving quite a bit of Formula X and Zoya this year, and NARS’ revamped formula had some nice shade offerings. I’m glad MAC reformulated their polish with a new brush and a much more palatable price tag, too.
- Cult Nails Nevermore — new-to-me in 2014, it’s one of the best black cream polishes I’ve ever tried
- Urban Decay Chaos — such a nice pop of cobalt blue with pearl
- MAC Before Dawn — a murky, storm green with gray and subtle pearl shimmer
- Illamasqua Melange — an antique green with flecks of copper and gold
- Formula X Alchemy — a festive mix of dirty antique gold and a multitude of fine glitter
- Marc Jacobs Beauty Cora (170) — a deepened burgundy brown with warm undertones and flecks of shimmer
- Zoya Binx — a pop of blue-based pink with gold shimmer and micro-glitter
- NARS Thasos — a pastel, mint green with a cream finish that goes on beautifully
- Marc Jacobs Beauty Patsy (164) — a shimmery golden taupe-brown
- Zoya Sansa — a deepened purple with gold flecks
That black is pretty special. Will buy.
It is soooo pigmented!
I’m surprised with your pick of Zoya Sansa considering you only gave it a B+ in your original review. That said, I think it’s a really pretty color.
Cult Nevermore is on my wishlist.
Not always an “A” because it doesn’t meet a brand’s claims (probably opacity), but I might still personally love the way it works. Kind of in the way some people like when something is more pigmented/less pigmented than it was supposed to be (usually for lip or cheek products, though) 🙂
I get ya. I think I just expected all your top picks to be A’s. For me opacity, is always last on my importance list for polishes. As long as it covers the way I want in two coats, I’m fine.
nice set of colors especially those green ones 🙂
So pretty!
Ugh I forgot about how much I LOVE/WANT Thasos until you posted this!!
LOL! It applies so well!
Illamasqua Melange <3 If only Illamasqua wasn't so difficult to buy. They've gotten fairly spendy, and then international shipping isn't cheap, either.
I hope they’ll find a place to distribute through in the U.S., because the shipping on polish is pretty rough.
Yeah, me too. I really wanted Melange, but with shipping etc it was too much.
Melange is at the top of my own list – I actually was just wearing it and swapped it out for Illamasqua Creator (which I just got) as it seemed more New Years appropriate.
Chaos looks gorgeous too.
Creator is AMAZINGGGGGG!
I’m wearing Alchemy on my nails and toes today! I only bought it based on your recommendation Christine. Your taste in nail polish is superb.
Thank you, Andie 🙂 Alchemy is really fun. So glad you got it! Great NYE shade to wear, too.
The L’Oreal Gel Lacque system hands down!
What are your favorite shades?
The best polishes I’ve tried this year are Polish My Life (Indie brand) Birthday Suit, Big Apple Red, and Eye Sea. Glisten & Glow HK Girl topcoat, replaced Seche Vite for me, it’s fast drying and my nails are super shiny. Zoya Madeline, Normani, and Haven. Nails Inc. Baker Street and Porchester Square. Illamasqua Harem, love, love, love, unfortunately I won’t be able to purchase any more polish from this brand as they no longer have a US distributor and I refuse to pay the S&H.
I really love Zoya’s polishes, and I think they put a lot of great shades this year.
I hear ya on Illamasqua, though – very hard to get, and you usually pay a lot to get it (just in shipping). 🙁
My favorite polishes of the year come from China Glaze’s All Aboard collection. Every color was absolutely gorgeous!
I need to revisit that one!
Sansa and Nevermore are amazing. I would have totally splurged on Melange, if the shipping would have been reasonable. *sigh*
I hope Illamasqua comes back to the US!
Loving those GORGEOUS green ones, especially Nars Thasos! Also love Alchemy!
Both great shades 😀
Melange is on the top of my wishlist too. If/when I visit the UK, I must drop by Illamasqua to pick it up. It really sucks that they pulled out of North America just before the release. I forgot about Urban Decay Chaos. Must check that out…I’ve been searching for a perfect bright blue.
I really hope to see Illamasqua return in 2015!
All your favs are very pretty! I especially like the look of Melange, it’s the most sophisticated green I’ve seen. My 2014 favorites (that I purchased) are:
Dior Frontrow
Nars Sherwood
Chanel Desirio
I’m sure the year-end compilations take some time to sort out, but I really enjoy them. Great to review, compare, and also see if I missed anything!
I was *thisclose* to putting Sherwood on the list! Great shade 🙂
Gah! So much gorgeousness! ZOYA WHY ARE YOU NOT A BRAND HERE YET?
😀
I think my favourite of this year has probably been Butter London Come To Bed Red, just for how generally awesome it is in multiple ways (brightness, sophistication, colour, coverage, lastability, ease of application…). That being said, I’ve enjoyed some nice glitters from OPI (ROSE OF LIGHT OMG I LOVE YOU) and Etude House this year!
I didn’t even know Etude House did polish!
The indie brand Dance Legend’s Wow Prism collection is incredible. Holographic but suspended in a formula that is idiot proof to apply. Danger Danger is a candy apple red. Inhale is spring green. If you like darker wintry neutrals, Dance Legend’s Melange collection has some beauts. Lilypad Lacquer’s You Got My Attention is a must have for purple lovers– so vibrant. I also liked Junon from Dior’s new gel shine formula– subtle but different office wearable blue-grey. A-England has a flawless formula and wonderful color range. Briarwood is a wintry burgundy holo that glows from within. Her Rose Adagio is the perfect silvery- warm neutral — again subtle and work-friendly but gorgeous. Fotheringay Castle is a vibrant pistachio green holo– what could be better than that?
Dance Legend’s formula sounds awesome!
The formulator is always coming up with new collections. Some are misses, but many are fabulous. It’s not just my opinion. More Nail Polish which is one of the best nail art blogs out there had more DL polishes on their best of list then any other brand. And she and I wear different colors because as a cool toned girl, she favors blues, purples and yellow golds, while I favor reds, wines, magentas, greens, neutrals, and neutrals or green golds.The prob is that they come from Russia and can be a little hard to come by– especially some of their duo chrome holos which sell out like hotcakes. I don’t care about those so much as they are a lot of blues and purples.
I love Zoya polishes…that Binx is really pretty!
The black polish is beautiful! Love the mint one too
My favorite from the year were Maybelline Colorshow Glitterati nail paints.. 🙂
Personally having seen LOTS of nail polish colors I only think Illamasqua Melange is a cool color. The others have been done TONS of times. Other colors: Jin Soon Pastiche, Picture Polish Fool’s Gold, KBShimmer Mint-Al-Vacation, Priti NYC Black Mondo and a few others that I can’t remember.
Pink one looks so cute ! xx