NOTD: L'Oreal High Tide (from the Passport to Paradise Collection)

I've got a few things I want to talk about in this post before I get to the swatches of High Tide. First of all, I had forgotten that I even had this polish until I saw it in my bedroom last night. I made such a fuss about how I fell in love with all the colors in the L'Oreal Passport to Paradise Collection that I am almost ashamed that it's taken me so long to show you this shade. Hopefully you still have access to this display at your local drugstores because, if you like light blue cremes, you're going to love these Essie dupes (and yes, I know that L'Oreal recently purchased Essie, which makes these dupes even more...interesting).

So as you know, I've been rocking a crazy mani for the past few days. Coats of metallic polish layered with glitter polish sound so pretty, but if you're a nail polish person, you know that they also sound like a nightmare...to remove! If you try to remove most glitter polishes the traditional way (with a cotton pad and nail polish remover) you're looking at an extremely time-consuming process.

So that's why I want to take this opportunity to thank several of you lovely readers for turning me on to the "foil method" of removing stubborn polishes. I've used this method about three times now and each time it just keeps getting easier and easier. So, YOU ROCK for enlightening me! It's made polish removal a snap for me and I no longer dread using glitter polishes one bit.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, the lovely Elvira over at Pink Sith posted a wonderful tutorial here (I was going to take pictures of the process last night on my own nails but I was too lazy!).

Moving on to High Tide, I have to tell you that if it weren't for how beautiful this color is, and the fact that I own nothing like it in my rather large stash of blue cremes, I would NEVER mention this polish EVER on my blog. Why? It's a nightmare to use. Need I remind you of the gloppy mess called Water's Edge that I showed you a while back (also in the Passport to Paradise Collection)? Well, High Tide is even WORSE!

While applying the first coat, it was streaky and goopy and went on so unevenly that I almost just stopped using it. But I kept going, and I found that the poor-quality brush (rough, uneven bristles) made things worse by leaving drag marks in the polish as I continued to paint my nails. It's really just impossible to work with, but again, I love this color so much that I kept on going.

The good news is that, on the second coat, things did even out a bit (although it was still very thick and goopy to work with and it made a mess of my cuticles). And then, while waiting for the second coat to dry, wouldn't you know it? I spotted bubbles. Everywhere. Argh!! But here's the crazy thing. I don't know if it's just the magical powers of Sally Hansen Mega Shine, or if this would work with any top coat, but once I applied the top coat, the lines, streaks and bubbles all seemed to disappear. Completely. My nails looks so pretty that I almost forgot what a pure hassle it was to use this goopy polish. See for yourself:

Aside from some much-needed clean-up I still need to do around my cuticles, this polish looks smooth and even, right? I don't know how the heck that happened, but I'm totally not complaining.

I really adore this muted pastel gray-blue. It's got just enough blue in it to keep it from looking too much like cement-gray (not that there's anything wrong with cement gray, mind you) and it's got just enough gray in it to keep it from looking like a little baby boy's blanket. To me, it's a sophisticated light blue, if there is such a thing! Oh, and you can really see the shimmer in High Tide when you see it in the bottle, but not so much when it's on the nails. I really have to strain to see the shimmer on my nails, even in full sunlight.

So, do you own any colors from the Passport to Paradise Collection? If so, how do you enjoy using them? Are they a nightmare to apply or did you luck out and get a good bottle (and brush)? I'd love to hear from you!