Green polish comparison and notd

Sorry for the lack of postings. I've been busy tidying things up at work since I'm taking a few days off for my birthday/thanksgiving. I'm taking a short trip to Toronto, Canada. I've been there before but would love to hear any recs for places to eat/shop if anyone wants to share =)

Anyway, I've been meaning to post this reference pic comparing Illamasqua Milf to Essie Mint Candy Apple and Chanel Jade. The fourth color is Essie Lollipop.

I attempted to use this gradation lame liquid that I purchase on ichibankao.com ages ago. You're suppose to dab it on the border between your 2 nail colors and then drag the brush down towards the base of your nail to produce a gradation. The liquid works ok, but it takes patience to dab on the right amount and make a quick enough brush motion to get a smooth effect. My ring finger ended up with a more prominent gradation than my other nails but it didn't stand out enough for me to re-do it =P
Instead of buying this liquid you could probably diy by using a brush and nail polish remover but I have not try this method.

I used Zoya in Gigi (pale pink with silver shimmer), layered a shimmery white polish from the face shop and did tips with Jill Stuart Secret diamond (from the anniversary set).

Zoya Polish Exchange - Earth Day

Here’s a link for a pretty good deal: http://www.zoya.com/earthday/

Starting in April, you can send in any old bottle of polish and get a new bottle in return. There is a minimum of 6 bottles and you do have to pay $3 per bottle for shipping/handling So overall, it’s about half off of the retail price. FYI-the address you put in the initial form is the shipping address they will use.

They just did a round of this promotion. I sent in my polish the last week of February and I got my new polish today so they processed everything pretty fast. I exchanged 17 bottles! and I still have more floating around the house so I'm glad they are doing this promotion again.

Update:
These are the colors I got in my exchange-
Harley(soft shimmery grey), Malia (violet creme), Barbie (Soft shimmery pink), Cassi (soft shimmery coral/peach), Zara (purple metallic with gold sheen), Creamy(bright yellow creme), Lulu (sheer peach creme), Miley (sheer lilac cream), Deidra (mauve metallic with gold sheen), Kotori (smoky blue with gorgeous blue glitter), Erika(pink frost with gold shimmer), Elke (apple red with a fine gold shimmer), Gaia (white frost with gold shimmer), Shimmer (sheer pink sparkle), Sweet (bubble gum pink creme), Irene (grass green metallic) and Uma (beige pink with gold shimmer).

I'm pretty happy with the formula, it's not too thin and not goopey. They dry pretty fast and for most colors, 2 coats was enough. None were streaky. I'm hoping that they will release the summer colors soon so I can add them to my exchange list. :) I'm also waiting for some new Konad stamping plates to arrive so I can have a nail decorating blow out.