Coral-y summer time

Thanks to a birthday gift card and a coupon, I was able to splurge on these lovely nail polishes from Ulta!

Essie - Haute as Hello

I love nail polish colors that resembles natural jewelry stones (like turquoise, coral, lapis, jade, gold, etc...). It's my way of showing off some bling without the real $$bling, if that makes any sense, haha. Lately, I've been searching for a peachy color that resembles the popular YSL coral ring, and I think this Essie Haute as Hello is the closest match. It's a bright milky peach-pink that really pops. My only complaint is that this color was hard to find in-store, so I had to order online. The formula is also a bit streaky and hard to apply evenly on larger nail surfaces. My camera could not capture the pretty color accurately, but check out these other blogs for better photos: here, here, here

Layla Hologram Effect - Coral Glam

Now this is the most expensive ($15.50) nail polish I've ever purchased (yay for gift card and coupon)! It is totally worth the cost for me though. I've been mesmerized by anything holographic since I was a kid. It probably started with my grade-school teachers who occasionally awarded us with holographic stickers on "excellent" homework assignments. It was always such a treat to receive a shiny hologram sticker verses a regular sticker. To this day, I still become giddy over everything holographic from pencils, folders, holiday cards, candy-wrappers....you name it! At one point in high school, I even thought of designing a holographic dress to wear to prom. Thank goodness I ended up not going to prom at all, haha. Of course when I spotted the Layla holo nail polish, I had to try it!

Coral Glam is actually more a frosty nude-rose color than coral. It has a glittery-shimmer effect but dries smooth and fast (not gritty like some glitter polishes can be). 

The holographic effect doesn't show well unless in direct light. Thus it's a very neutral color indoors, but for outdoors it's like magic...beyond gorgeous with all the rainbow reflections...SWOON! Trust me, you will be staring and admiring your own nails like a crazy person with this! 

Again, for better photos, check out these other blogs: here, here, here

I will definitely be sporting these nail polishes this summer!

What are your favorite nail polishes this summer?