{ high/low }

recently on twitter, someone asked what my preferred nail polish is. truth be told, i'm an equal-opportunity experimenter in this arena. due in large part to all the jewelry-making i do, my nails require frequent repainting. so i like to mix it up!

lately my favorites fall into two categories: cheap-o and chanel:

{ chanel colors (bottom row) from left to right: inattendu, jade, particulière, black pearl, paradoxal, peridot, nouvelle vague, khaki rose // all the others are in portuguese! }

i've long looked to chanel for trend-setting colors, but cutting-edge comes with quite a cost. that's why i was so excited last month in sao paulo to discover that a bottle of nail polish there sells for about $1.50, and their standard drugstores stock every color under the sun!! i picked up roughly twenty new tones ~ my sister stole half of them upon my return to new york (and yet she also gave me many of the designer varietals pictured here, so we're cool); the few i managed to hold on to are interspersed with my high-end favorites in these photos:

shooting this, i noticed that i tend to choose mauve-y neutrals, smokey metallics, dusky plums, and the occasional glint of green. one that i'm especially excited about is peridot (center, below). it's my birthstone and the finish reminds me of the holographic sheen of beetle wings:

i also really love my brand-new brazilian 3D topcoat (bottom left, below; you saw me wear it HERE) ~ it's great on its own and layers fantastically with every other color:

what's your favorite nail color or polish line? is there any one that we all simply must try?!