essence - Just in Case

Above is two coats of Just in Case from my mini-haul of essence nail polishes.  I really liked the color (especially since it was fifty cents on sale).  The consistency was great though it dried with visible brush strokes--I know brush stroke lines bother some people but I don't mind as long as the actual texture isn't lumpy or streaky.  One thing that surprised me about this color is that the finish was really glossy and smooth, even without top coat.  This reminds me of some of the light brown metallics from China Glaze.

Sinful Colors - Mercury Rising

For this mani I used Mercury Rising from Sinful Colors, which is my new favorite brown shimmer:

I amassed quite a few browns this past fall / winter and I love them because they're warm-toned like dark red but never run the risk of looking vampy.  I bought a bunch of H Series (fauxnad) plates online a while ago and haven't gotten the chance to use them yet, so I picked out plate H1 and stamped this random ribbon / flower design using China Glaze 2030 (my go-to gold for Konading):

I gotta say the design is a little strange, but a nice change from the flowers, hearts, and bows that I'm used to from standard Konad plates.