Yello-ve

I’ve never been a yellow lover. I’m much more drawn to cold, dark colours, which are evocative of those wild, Northern landscapes than I like so much. Black, blue, gray, purple, even brown and oxblood: that’s my jam.
On the other hand, if your complexion is an ectoplasmic nuance of white with a few drops of slime green, and your skin tone places you somewhere between Data from Star Trek and Papa Emeritus of Ghost, bright yellows don’t really suit you, euphemistically speaking.

• 

• 

• 

Last but not the least, yellow polishes are infamous for their awful formula: they’re streaky, patchy, sheer… To summarize, they do nothing to make you love them!
So, for a long time, I only used my most despised shade (after Barbie pink) in nail art. I owned a couple of cheap yellow polishes and I had no desire to add any other to my growing collection.

…Till we found a sea of green / And we lived beneath the waves / In our yellow submarine (*)

But then something happened and I started looking at yellow nails with a different eye. Because of the hype (and because it was reduced to one third of its original price) I decided to buy Opi I Just can’t cope-acabana. I can’t say it was love at first try. Its allegedly good, two-coat application didn’t happen for me: I had pooling and streaking (the polish) and cursing and whining (me). Despite that, a door had been opened… and a stream of polish had begun to flow in through it.
Shall we take a look at some pretties, then?

Essence #118 Little Miss Sunrise, from the old Colour & Go line, is streaky at first, but becomes opaque in three coats. Not groundbreaking, but nice.
Kiko #279 tries its best to look bright and pretty, so that you are inclined to forgive its less than pleasant formulation.
I bought NCLA 2″ Above The Knee because it was highly discounted and I liked the name, plus I had nothing just as bright in my collection. The polish is thick but manageable and it covers in three coats.

Essence #118 Little Miss Sunrise, Kiko #279 Yellow and Ncla 2″ Above The Knee

…Follow the rainbow over the stream / Follow the fellow who follows a dream / Follow, follow, follow, follow / follow the yellow brick road (**)

As I said above, Opi I just can’t… was soon joined by other yellow lacquers in different hues. Its fellow Helmer dwellers ended up being mostly Opi’s, because Opi isn’t as hard to find in stores, here in Narnia, as other brands are (Narnians seem to only be aware of the existence of Pupa and L’Oreal: no Essie, no Zoya, no Orly, no nothing… life sucks! XD )

The selection of polishes available here in Narnia…

For the purpose of this post, I swatched three shades side by side: Opi I just can’t Cope-acabana, Never a Dulles moment and Sun, sea and sand in my pants. All of them cover in three coats, even if, in some lightings, a slight patchiness can be spotted both in photos and in real life.
I just can’t Cope-acabana is the brightest, whereas Never a Dulles moment is dustier and leans more mustard.
My favorite of the bunch, though, is Sun, sea and sand in my pants: that egg-yolk yellow is festive and makes me hungry. But what doesn’t? XD

OPI I just can’t Cope-acabana, Never a Dulles moment, Sun, sea and sand in my pants

…Here far away / One could feel the earth vibrate / Moon changing shape and shade / As we all do under its gaze / Yellow moon on the rise (***)

But as you can probably foresee, now that you know me better, my life wasn’t complete without a sprinkle of sparkle (and a pun): I needed holo, I needed flakes, I needed glow!
That’s when Picture Polish appeared on the scene.
They had the most appealing and mouthwatering shade of yellow in their line, with added holo! Sunflower was a must-have! But I jumped on the bandwagon a bit too late and when I started looking for it, it was out of stock everywhere. I seached for it high and low and eventually I succeded.
In the meantime, other two polishes had been created in the land down under, and they were calling my name like enchanting and dangerous sirens: Cozy (ah, charteuse!) and Pooh. Pooh! Come on, POOH!!
So this happened:

I must say, I love all of them: each has its own peculiar charm!
Sunflower is such a happy shade (and even if I am Wednesday Addams, I still appreciate that!), it’s bright and bold with its beautiful golden shimmer. On my short nails, it reached opacity in three coats.
Pooh is sheer, but the holo particles are so dense and sparkly that make up for that. I’m wearing four coats in the photo below, but I didn’t find the forth really necessary: I just had to fix some application mistakes (like painting 4 km far from the cuticle line, for unknown reasons)
Cozy is cooler toned and unique. For me, it was the most opaque of the three: with a careful job, two coats are enough.

…Blue you sit so pretty / West of the one / Sparkles light with yellow icing / Just a mirror for the sun (****)

Is my thirst for yellow quenched, now? Partially. It would have been, if some creative minds hadn’t come out with polishes in this shade, but with a contrasting shimmer, something in front of which I’m defenseless like Winnie The Pooh in front of honey.

In the photos below, Tonic Polish Lemons & Cream and Vapid Lacquer Pappy Pony Picked a Pluck of Prickly Fluffnuggets.

• 

• 

But that’s another story! Time to go, now: errands need to be run, work needs to be done. See you soon!

Ilaria

(*) lyrics from “Yellow Submarine” by The Beatles (Paul McCartney, John Lennon)
(**) lyrics from “We’re Off to See the Wizard”, composed by Harold Arlen and performed by Judy Garland
(***) lyrics from “Yellow Moon” by Pearl Jam (Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament)
(****) lyrics from “Road Trippin” by Red Hot Chili Peppers (John Frusciante, Anthony Kiedis, Flea)

DISCLAIMER:
English is my second language: I apologize for my mistakes!
I purchased all the polishes shown in this post with my own money.
All the photos are my own, except for the ones featuring Data (I cropped the original image by Smallbrainfield), Papa Emeritus of Ghost (I cropped the original image by Scott Penner) and the empty shelves: for all of them links to the original posts are provided below.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/smallbrainfield/38173120
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Papa_Emeritus_II_-Coachella_2013%282%29.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Escasez_en_Venezuela,_Central_Madeirense_8.JPG