Manicure Monday: Marshmallow & 24/7

Last week, I shared a little bit of nail art I experimented with and realized that I had never swatched some of the colors that I used in that design. Strange, considering I wear those colors all the time. How did they fall through the cracks?

Regardless, today I'm rectifying that terrible wrong and sharing swatches of two polishes I absolutely love: Essie's Marshmallow and Sinful Colors 24/7. Both colors are part of each brand's permanent collection, so if you like them, you can always get your hands on them.

Two coats of Essie Marshmallow and China Glaze Fast Forward top coat

I bought Essie Marshmallow to wear on my wedding day. I wanted something neutral, but I didn't want to go for the conventional light pink, nude, or french manicure. I also didn't want to wear something too expected, like blue (although I did wear baby blue on my toes). My wedding colors were black and white, and thinking that black nails might blend in too much with the black ribbon around my bouquet, I decided on a white manicure. That's when I started questioning what shade of white I wanted to use. I didn't want something too bright that resembled white out or freshly bleached socks. The hunt was on for a soft white. Something between conventional nude or the super trendy white manicure. That's when I found Marshmallow. I instantly loved it.

It's a little tricky to work with, but it's also versatile. You can wear it soft and gentle like I did for my wedding (pictured above) or you can layer it on and make it opaque (like I did here). Plus, it isn't boring and pretty much goes with anything. But, because it's a thin and milky polish, it can be streaky and you need to build coats to get it to be more opaque. Two coats can still look a little streaky, but a good shiny top coat will mask it. Three coats give you a completely opaque finish, but lessens its softness.

Two coats of Sinful Colors 24/7 with China Glaze Fast Forward top coat

On a completely opposite end of the spectrum from Marshmallow is Sinful Colors 24/7. It's an incredibly loud and in-your-face neon pink. It's so bright, it's practically highlighter pink. There's nothing neutral about this polish and it won't blend into a crowd. Like many neon colors, it can be a little streaky, but again, it's nothing a second coat and a glossy top coat can't even out.  I absolutely love this color and find myself turning to it a lot, especially during the summer. (P.S. Please forgive the stained fingers. I'd have a bit of a swatching fest, and the color before this one was green and left its mark behind)

So there you have them. Two of the polishes that inexplicably didn't make it into the Manicure Monday rotation until now. What do you think of these colors? Are either of them something you would wear?