Favorites of 2012 - Part 1 - Favorites I Was Behind On

Happy (almost) New Year's Eve everyone! Tonight I have for you a favorites post that is a little different than some you have been seeing around the blogosphere. These are my favorite polishes that I acquired this year that were released prior to this year - in other words, polishes I was behind on!

I was going to narrow this down to 12 for 2012 but I just couldn't knock any of these off my list so I have lucky #13 for you today. Here they are in no particular order.

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Chanel Dragon - I received this as a birthday gift in November. It was my first Chanel and it is simply amazing. Perfect. Red. Creme.

Chanel Dragon

China Glaze High Def - this is from China Glaze's Tronica Collection that came out in 2011 - and I managed to miss every single one. Now I need them all. LOL! This one is a perfect dusty blue.

China Glaze High Def

 Dior Liquorice - this super hard-to-find Dior is simply amazing. The picture speaks for itself.

Dior Liquorice

Illamasqua Hectic - I do love me some poopy greens and this one is my favorite. It was not easy to acquire this polish as it is extremely hard-to-find so that makes me treasure it even more.

Illamasqua Hectic

MAC Bad Fairy - this one needs no explanation. And the story behind it makes it very near and dear to my heart.

MAC Bad Fairy

Zoya Petra - this is one of my go-to polishes. I wear this polish a lot and am at least halfway through the bottle.

Zoya Petra

Dior Purple Mix - one of my favorite polishes out of my whole stash. You can't go wrong with a Dior creme and this color is to die for.

Dior Purple Mix

China Glaze Hyper Haute - another offering from the Tronica Collection. This is my favorite out of the Tronicas that I have so far.

China Glaze Hyper Haute

Zoya Jana - I wear this polish all. the. time. However, I realized I have NEVER blogged it! How in the world did that happen? LOL! So, I have borrowed a photo from Pointless Cafe.

Zoya Jana

Dior Jamaican Pepper - can you tell that I love Dior? This time last year I had never even considered Dior polish - now it is one of my favorites. I would own even more if my wallet would let me!

Dior Jamaican Pepper

Orly Frolic - just such a happy, cheery color.

Orly Frolic

Orly Green Apple - this shade of green looks yummy enough to eat (pun intended).

Orly Green Apple

Sinful Colors Dream On - (shown with stamping) - I absolutely adore this color and the rubber finish of this polish.

Sinful Colors Dream On

Well, there are my previously-released favorites! I will be back tomorrow with more favorites! Let me know your favorites in the comments!

Thanks for reading and happy polishing! ♥

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Illamasqua Hectic - Swatches, Review and Comparison

Let me preface this post by saying that I realize that this color is not for everyone. I, however, am in the small percentage of people who happen to LOVE these dirty, murky, olive (some even say baby poop) greens. Illamasqua Hectic is a discontinued and VERY hard to find color. It is a very long (and quite funny) story as to how I finally obtained it but the important part is that I have it now (and a very good friend got one in the process).

Hectic is a gorgeous olive green that is quite more warm-toned than most (see the comparison at the bottom of the page). I loved this so much that I wore it for FOUR days (that is completely unheard of for me - I usually change my polish every day or every other day at the very least) and had very little tip wear. Great job Illamasqua!

Application was very good, the first coat was quite streaky but the second coat evened everything out. It is also quite shiny on its own. I really like the shape of the Illamasqua bottles and the fact that the square cap comes off to reveal a small round one underneath. This also allows for the cap to always be aligned correctly with the bottle. A little note about me - I prefer square bottles to round ones but if the caps are square and have no way to be re-aligned correctly it DRIVES.ME.NUTS.

All photos were taken outside (in about 113 degree Arizona heat, it is a labor of love LOL) and feature 2 coats. Perfect creamy green goodness....

Illamasqua Hectic

Illamasqua Hectic

Illamasqua Hectic

Illamasqua Hectic

Illamasqua Hectic

Illamasqua Hectic

Illamasqua Hectic

Illamasqua Hectic

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Since Hectic is so hard to find I thought I would do a comparison with some of my other greens that are in this family. 

Illamasqua Hectic, W.I.C. by Herome Aalborg, Zoya Dree, China Glaze Westside Warrior

Hectic, Aalborg, Dree, Westside Warrior

As you can see, none of these are even close to being dupes. Hectic is more yellow-toned than any of the others. My friend Sheila (from Pointless Cafe) also has a love for these dirty greens and has done a couple of comparison posts as well. Since she has more of them than me (for now hehe), I have included links to both of those here and here if you would like to see more baby poop green goodness.

What do you think of these greens? They seem to be one of those colors you either absolutely love or absolutely hate. Haha