Green Ombre Mani with Zoya, Julep, and Orly

From thumb to pinkie:

Zoya Neely

Orly Ancient Jade

Zoya Josie

Julep Popova

Orly Lucky Duck

 

Super fun to do a mani in many shades of your favorite color!

 

More pictures after the jump!

The "claw" pose, hahaha!

Now, let's go through each polish's application in order from thumb to pinkie.

 

Zoya Neely - 3 coats, definitely the first bad Zoya formula I have ever encountered, and I have over 50 Zoyas. It was the typical chalky pastel formula that doesn't self-level and just sits there with the edge of each brush stroke showing. Ugghh. I was soooo disappointed in this polish. I was excited to finally have such a unique pastel green, and it was ruined in a brush stroke.

 

 

Orly Ancient Jade - also 3 coats, definitely as bad a formula as Zoya Neely. This one gave me a bit more trouble because it was more sheer, it just kept having bald spots. This polish gave me more trouble than any of the others for this mani, and I am glad I got it as a mini bottle on sale.

 

 

Zoya Josie - 2 coats, amazing Zoya formula, thank goodness! I think I would have been so upset if this was as bad as Neely. This is the polish I feel like I have been looking for since I began my collection. I have always wanted a nice green cream, but not the khaki color or the dark forest color, no glitter, just cream. I have some weird obsession with collection the perfect cream in my favorite shades, like it somehow embodies the ultimate collection when you have the perfect polish in the base color, no glitters or other distractions, of your favorite color. It is like the ultimate challenge, can you make the perfect (insert color here) polish? It is definitely fun hunting down the best polish through blogger reviews, especially when it has to be a pure cream and not out of my price range.

 

 

Julep Popova - 2 coats. I hate Julep, but this polish was actually really nice to work with, but that made me hate it more. I hate Julep and I don't want to like their crappy polish bottles that can't stand up and the brush wands that are so long and drip polish everywhere or their overpriced inconsistent formula in such awful bottles. Did I mention that they also charge more per fluid ounce than most other companies, especially because they have smaller bottles AND you lose a lot of polish as it collects on the brush wand and gets gummy from exposure to air, so you actually are paying even more for even less polish. What a rip-off. Needless to say, I am no longer a Julep Maven. Sorry for the rant, I am definitely a Zoya and a-england (Llarowe) girl.

 

 

Orly Lucky Duck - 2 coats, pretty good formula! I like Orly, not as much as Zoya, but I like them as much as China Glaze as far as consistent formula for a mainstream brand you can buy in stores. I appreciate a good formula that is available to everyone. Definitely a great polish and I recommend it if you like darker green creams.

 

Overall: I had a great time picking out the colors for this mani and loved the comments I got on it. It is super fun wearing and ombre mani, and if you have a large collection of one color, I would recommend trying it out! I was disappointed in Zoya Neely, but loved Zoya Josie, and a lot of people seemed to like Josie the best! Josie is the ultimate green cream!

 

This is my puppy, fast asleep!

 

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