Neon nail polish!!!

Ok, it may be September already, but I figured I had some unfinished business with my summer related posts (namely in the nail polish department), that I shouldn't delay for any longer!

So, yep, this post will be about neon nail polish. But why neon, you may ask? And why now?

Well, as this summer has sadly come to its end, I realised that it's another summer in a row that neon nail polish was a huge trend in my country! Greek ladies definitely go all out as soon as its sandal season, with neon corals and neon pinks being the most favourable.
Now, I don't know exactly why this seems to be going on for a few years now. It could be that neon colours make the skin appear more tanned (I mean, hello, if your eyes are blinded, you will naturally think everything else is darker) or they 're just chosen for the "wow" factor, but whatever the case may be, it's surely a great idea for a post!




So, here are a few neons in my collection:




1. GT Cosmetics No. 4. This is by a greek "drugstore" brand (I know that Color Club makes a similar shade if you 're looking for a dupe) that makes affordable neons. No. 4 is a basic neon coral, that's very hot for the summer months. Swatch is after 3 coats and could probably use a fourth - don't worry about drying time, each coat needs about 5 to 7 min to dry completely. What would be worth mentioning is that this dries to a weird semi-matte finish, not matte like most neons. It is however very fluorescent, so I 'd gladly overlook its minor flaws.




2. Essie Perky Purple. This was by far the hardest to photograph out of the bunch. In real life it's not as warm as on the nails, neither as cool as it appears in the bottle, it's somewhere inbetween. What I like about this is that it's a subtle neon, meaning it won't hurt your eyes and that you can wear it on other occasions (besides the...beach?) too. 3 coats, drying time was a few minutes for each coat, dries matte. And, oh yeah, it's limited edition (Essie Summer '09).




3. Essie Punchy Pink. Another LE (from that same collection), Punchy Pink is the hottest neon pink you can come across! I just love this one, and coming from someone that doesn't usually like pink nail polish, that must say something! 3 quick coats, same as Perky Purple.




4. Barry M Neon Green. Now, don't be fooled by its name, this one is not a neon in technical terms. It's shimmery for one. It also dries to an almost glossy finish. And ok, it is an obnoxiously bright green, but it's not really that fluorescent. However, being a Barry M nail polish, it's a pleasure to apply and lasts many days.


So, what do you think of neon nail polish?
Any tricks for neon photography on a non slr camera?

And, is there a beauty trend in your country/town that has escaped the beauty blogging community? :)

What's your opinion?

  1. The neon Green and PERKY PURPLE are gorgeous....Its never to late for any trend...before we know, next summer will be around the corner!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lovely neon nail polish collection hun!!Purple and Gcosmetics look fabulous!!I'm sure you can pull off purple for fall too!!
    Hugs!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Punchy pink and the no 4 shade are soooo in my family of nail varnish <3 lol.. i love your choices and the purple looks amazing on your skin tone!! xxx

    ReplyDelete
  4. I loveee Punchy pink! It looks nice on you!! x

    ReplyDelete
  5. These are so cool!! I especially like the purple one, perhaps it's because I could see myself wear it off the beach as well, as you said! Here (in Italy) we had a lot of Smurf blue (Ta Stroumfakia, haha! It's "Puffi" in Italian!) on nails, but I can't say I noticed any strange trends...personally I went for hot pink and coral, I'm always boring like that :)) !!! xx

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ohh I love the look of punchy pink! Still need a good neon pink in my life and essie seems to make all the cute ones, it looks similar to pink parka which is on my wishlist :) x

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ohh I love the look of punchy pink! Still need a good neon pink in my life and essie seems to make all the cute ones, it looks similar to pink parka which is on my wishlist :) x

    ReplyDelete
  8. The truth is that I do not have any neons in my nail polish collection yet! I think my favourite of the ones you have mentioned would be Punchy Pink! So pretty!
    Love the pictures with the fluorescent markers!
    XOXO
    Catanya

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hey Hun! Oooo I love the first three colours you posted - I don't fancy the green one much but that's just because I know it wouldn't suit me :S
    I actually don't have any real shocking neon polishes now that I think of it *gasp* I would definitely jump on the trend with something similar to your GT Cosmetics #4 or Essie Punchy Pink :)
    In general I find that not many women wear much makeup here in Toronto...like I hear from my European friends that makeup is worn by more women in Europe than here. In general, we also dress more casual. So I don't think any beauty trend is hiding in Toronto or Canada LOL...maybe in S Amer or Europe?!
    Yes, sometimes it's very difficult to capture the real colour of something in a picture. I really have to tricks to help you :S I experience the same problem.
    How is your week coming along? :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. I know what you mean about summer & unfinished biz... bring on the neon girl! Loving the punchy pink shade especially!

    x.o.x.o
    ps thanks for your kind words hun, means a lot to me.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oooooh, pretty neon colours! And SO much fun to wear!!! The purple Essie looks so wearable, I have a hard time finding a nice shade of purple that doesn't make my skin look... dead, if it makes sense!

    My latest neon nail colour was an ErreDue polish in #200, it's sth between pink and orange and I love it!

    xx

    ReplyDelete
  12. Punchy pink is pretty!! I love how you lined the polishes up against highlighters lol, neons are very fun i only have a pink shade though!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love that purple!! I wish I had got that one. I have punchy pink but it was super streaky on me, so bad that I just gave up on it and used china glaze shocking pink instead! I think I got a bad one or something. It looks FAB on you!

    I wish I had advice on how to photograph neons...isn't it the most ANNOYING thing??

    Hope you have a great weekend love! xoxoxoxoxox

    ReplyDelete
  14. The thing I love about it is the one you mentioned that tanned skin looks even better (although your toes always get dark (and darker than your body) so quickly!

    Still adjusting, trying to sort problems and life, but hopefully things will be much better soon.(and I can finally do some extreme shopping, my cosmetics list is getting bigger and bigger) We can only hope. :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. OMG I love Essie Punchy Pink...need to get it! Even though it's September I think it will be nice to wear now...something to remember summer with! :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. I really want the purple one. Too bad it's LE x

    ReplyDelete
  17. i absolutely love Essie's Punchy Pink. It makes my hands look tan, haha.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Lovely shades, especially the Essie ones. I indulged to this trend too this summer. I got "pool party" by China glaze, a fabulous neon pink shade. It dries matte but I used a clear top coat to make it shiny. Love your blog background by the way! xxx

    ReplyDelete
  19. wow, those shades make me want to go out and pick up some more neons! the purple and pink are so pretty on you. i don't know if there are really any nail trends around here...i do see a lot of french mani's, and they make me vomit a little. hehe.

    i've noticed that i've been trying to avoid all of the lovely dark shades, until it's "officially" fall..but it's getting difficult!

    ReplyDelete
  20. To everyone: I just realised that these nail polishes don't always translate as true neons from one screen to another! I thought I had taken good photos that showed the true colours and then... I used my netbook to log in... whole other story! I 'll try to take a look into that in the future! In the meantime, if anyone can help w neon photography, I 'd gladly take lessons, lol!

    ReplyDelete
  21. @resham: See, those two aren't the most popular shades here, but then again, who wants to see the same thing over and over again? ;)
    Love the way you think btw, so, next summer is only... 9 months away right? Lol!
    xxxx


    @Blushingloves: Thank you doll! Yes, that's the beauty of that purple shade, it's great for this indian summer weather, lol! ;) xxx


    @Tali: Hehe, no argument there with your choices, they 're the hottest ones you can pair with your bright bikinis (does anyone else always think how their nail polish would work with their bikinis or is it just me? Lol)! Eh, this post is probably a fail in the swatch department, but, regardless, thank u dear! :) xxx


    @Shirley: Thank you Shirley! :) I 'm sure that you can pull off a hot neon pink as well! ;) xx

    ReplyDelete
  22. @Anna: Ok, HOW would you know how they're called? But, then again, I know Brucco Lino (is that even still on italian tv?), so... yeah! Pinks and corals are the way to go in the summer, we need bright shades! ;)
    I saw those blues here too and even though I have one and a friend of mine bought one, I 've yet to see sm1 actually wear it (myself included)! I need to pay closer attention next summer!!! xxx


    @Ariel: Yes, Pink Parka, Punchy Pink and Flirty Fuchsia were all in that hot pink neon family! If you can find one of those, grab 'em! Lol! :) xx


    @Catanya: Sadly, I can't be of much help on what would be available this time of year, since those companies usually come up with neons for the summer time.. however maybe you could get lucky at your local drugstore nail polish stand?
    Lol, the markers were mandatory in this post, you can't mention "fluorescent shades" without including markers, right? Lol! xxx


    @Karen: Yeah, the green was the odd one here, I bought it thinking it would be a Rihanna neon green, but it was far from what I expected!!!
    So, the canadian ladies are more casual than one would think? That's an interesting observation!
    I just always try to compare how the trends translate to everyday life outside of the "beauty community", there seems to be a couple of suprises there!
    That neon thing is driving me insane... I thought I had it until switched screens...argh! xxxx

    ReplyDelete
  23. @A BRIT GREEK: Hehe, at least someone knows what I 'm talking about! Seems like the only people that were truly looking forward to fall are the ones that had long summer vacations (not me)! The cooler weather is nice, but other than that... bring me back some summer!!! Lol! ;) xoxo


    @cbsg5861: I completely know what you mean, I get that with light grey/beige colours, they all make my hands look like corpse's hands! You 're probably trying out purples with too many brown/grey undertones in them (and those are EVERYWHERE lately), that could be the problem! I 'm gonna look out for that Erre Due next time sta HC, thanks doll! :) xxx


    @Gemma: Thanx sweetie! :) Yeah, I 've had the markers for absolute ages now (more than 5 years) and they seem to be going strong... I just need different colours to mark in what "undercategory" my note belongs to if that makes any sense (so, symptoms would be green etc)! xoxo


    @ellamarie84: Yes, neons tend to be streaky (or at least the ones I 've tried), but they 're not so bad after 3 coats and since they dry in a matter of a few minutes, it's not really that big of a deal to me!
    In regards to neon photography, YOU OF ALL PPL CAN'T SAY THAT!
    I 'm still looking at your Shocking Pink NOTD and think "how did she do it, how did she do it"! Honestly tho, how did you do it, did u use flash for the pic on the left? Settings? xxx

    ReplyDelete
  24. @Lotus: Yes, Punchy Pink would be ideal for that! :) Good luck hunting it down! x


    @TheBristolBeautyBlog: I 'm sorry I can't of much assistance on this one... I checked on head2toebeauty and it's seems it's the one they don't have! :( Perhaps try Color Club's "Power Play"? That may still be around! xx


    @C.Chico: So, that IS a factor, lol! :) I remember u sporting Punchy Pink, in fact I was salivating over it on your blog for quite a while, haha! :) xx


    @Pasiphae: You are a trendy missy, hahaha! I just googled it, very hot shade! ;) Thank u on the feedback sweetie, and WELCOME BACK! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  25. @fantastic: Lol, aren't the new fall shades more suitable for the weather there atm? :) Eh, screw it, it's nail polish after all, lol! ;)
    100% with u on the french manicures... it's ok once in a while, but too much and it makes me think of pornstars (and if ppl make such a huge deal abt nude lips, they should definitely add french manicures into the equasion too - ok, "pornstars", "nude", "lips", can't wait for the kind of traffic and spam this will bring me)! Lol! xxx

    ReplyDelete
  26. I love neon nail colours, it's just a shame London has awful weather so Autumn colours are fast approaching instead. Lovely post hun.

    awaywiththefairiesx.blogspot.com

    xo

    ReplyDelete
  27. Me again babe!

    Saw this and thought of you! I'll be going back to London soon, let me know if there's some Barry M polishes you need!

    http://www.graziadaily.co.uk/GraziaDailyNails/archive/2010/09/07/instant-nail-art.htm

    x.o.x.o

    ReplyDelete
  28. @Jess: I know, this inbetween weather doesn't help at all, one day is indian summer, the next day is autumn...! Crazy! Thank you for your kind comment! x


    @A BRIT GREEK: Actually, that one looks so cool, sorta like crocodile skin, but PETA would aprrove, haha! If you could pick one up for me during your next visit, I 'd hugely appreciate it!
    Thanks so much doll! :) Filia! xxx

    ReplyDelete
  29. that's interesting, i haven't noticed the austrian ladies wear neon nail polish in the summer, but i guess it's because we're more of an alpine country as opposed to greece with its beaches and water etc. the polishes look super pretty on you and i love the idea with the text markers! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  30. @Blusherine: Thank you girl, I think it added to the whole... fluorescent theme, haha! Yeah, I 'm guessing Austria isn't exactly a place you could sport neons... maybe sth more subtle or pastel would be more appropriate with your beautiful green scenery and lakes? :) Where do you live in Austria if u don't mind me asking? :) xxx

    ReplyDelete
  31. I love these colors although I'm not really one to wear anything neon. My favorite was the GT Cosmetics No.4 though. It's so pretty.

    ReplyDelete
  32. @BeccaFromAbove: Well, it is only nail polish, so you can take it off in a second, no harm done! ;) Would be great for a more fun or festive occasion, if you 'd think it'd be too much for everyday! ;) xxx

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for stopping by!