Mani Monday: After School Boy Blazer

Today's Mani Monday is a little bit blue! I love the look of black nail polish, but I get bored by it easily, so when I felt like wearing something a little darker this past week, I opted for a navy blue that I picked up from Essie recently. At first glance, the polish almost appears black on the nail, but upon closer inspection, you can tell that it's not. Purrrfect.

Essie's After School Boy Blazer applied easily and also cleaned up well. I have to say that this is probably one of the cleanest jobs I've done with a dark nail polish! Two coats might have been just enough to make this opaque, but I applied a light third coat just for good measure. I couldn't immediately find my trusty Seche Vite top coat (you should see my polish collection - it's a little, uh, messy), so I opted to use my Julep Freedom top coat. I think that might contribute to my big complaint against After School Boy Blazer - it started chipping around the edges right away. I took photos of this polish about 18 hours after I painted my nails, and you can clearly see that the edges had already gotten just a little dinged up. Boo!

After School Boy Blazer also stained my nails a bit, too. Just nail polish remover was not enough to erase all traces of blue. I removed the polish last night, used a hand scrub, and also then showered... and I still have a light blue stain around some of my cuticles. Hmmm. Maybe I'll try a different base coat next time and see what happens!

I have another moody blue Essie polish to try, so that might be what you see next week! This summer in Saint Louis has been so not summery, I just can't quite get in the mood of bright polishes! What about you? Are you wearing your traditional hot hues?

Polishes Used:
Navy Blue: Essie After School Boy Blazer
Top Coat: Julep Freedom Polymer Top Coat
Base Coat: Seche Vite