Colors of Mardi Gras: emerald green

Mardi Gras is a week from today, and I was rooting around in my polishes for the proper colors (if you don't know what the traditional Mardi Gras colors are, look here). I lived for 20-odd years in a place that celebrates Mardi Gras - and I still work in that same town, even though I don't live there any more - so I kind of got in the habit of paying attention to it. I don't often go to the parades or anything because I am, well, middle-aged and crowd-averse, plus I don't really drink much any more, but that doesn't mean I can't wear beads and paint my nails in Mardi Gras colors, right?

(Note: If you want to see some crazy Mardi Gras manicures, do a search on Pinterest. There are tons.)

So, we're looking for Emerald-ish greens - pull them out for Mardi Gras, leave them out for St. Patrick's Day - plus royal purples and golds. Often you see this as just a yellow-gold color, but I prefer the metallic kind, and I have lots of that stuff. (Interestingly, I didn't actually own many golds at all until lately, but since last summer or so I have been steadily acquiring more and more.)


I was actually intending to go through this in one entry but see below, it got a little involved, so this is only the greens. I think this is going to have to be a series. So golds and purples will come on Wednesday, unless that one gets too excessively long, too, and then I'll go one more day!

There are some green possibilities in that overflow wheel I just posted. Rainforest in particular is maybe a little dark, but you could make it work. And it is (to my knowledge, at least!) available all over.

And then there's stuff from my original green wheel:

The writing is all smeary, but I'm pretty sure that #11, the one with the bent tip (the nail wheel came that way - it cost something like a quarter, tops, so I didn't worry much about it), is pretty much the ultimate emerald-green as far as I'm concerned, and it's $2 and change and I'm pretty sure they still make it (keep reading for the sad answer) - Xtreme Wear Emerald City. Hmm, I'm looking on SH's website and I don't see it offhand, but here's some more suggestions from SH's color-finder: Triple Shine Kelp Out, Insta-Dri In the Groove (more on the yellow-toned side), Hard As Nails Tough Luck. I think you could also make Xtreme Wear Jazzy Jade work. Emerald City appears to be discontinued, darnit. Well, #9 above also works, if you can get Layla polishes from Italy. (It's CE61, if you want to know.) #10 is Zoya Rikki over the aforementioned Layla polish so that doesn't do you any good unless you have the Layla already. And 12 is a long-discontinued Ulta (N-Evergreen) so that's no good for most people too.

(Note: here's an Amazon seller with Emerald City for $14.99. I think paying that much for it would be a bit extreme, though!)

Here's some more possibilities:

 The three less-yellow ones here are all polishes that were available sometime last year, at least - I'm writing this during the weekend so if I get bored enough have time I'll go look to see. 6-8 above are, respectively, Julie G Gumdrops in Rock Candy, an unnamed mini that is probably an L.A. Colors polish, and Color Show Tenacious Teal, which despite the name is very definitely green as far as I'm concerned. (I think if you want to go textured, though, Zoya Chita is much more of a Mardi Gras green than Rock Candy.)

I think the L.A. Colors might be current.

More from that same wheel:

Hmm, well, #17 is Essie Crocadilly, the magnetic that I never could get to work right, and it's not really quite emerald but you might could make it work, if you have it. I certainly wouldn't run out and buy it for the purpose. Then #18 is actually 19 over 20, but I think I like it better than either one alone. 19 is Zoya Rikki, and 20 is SOPI Leaf Him at the Altar, which you might could pick up at your local Big Lots, if you're lucky. (Honestly, why must nail polish be so trendy? Finding a polish that's the right color AND still manufactured is harder than I thought.)

Here's a preview of another nail wheel with my more recent purchases and a bunch more greens:

This is fairly legible, by the usual standards of my nail wheels, but for the record:
(10) Zoya Chita (Pixie Dust)
(11) ModLacquer Chupacabra - this one is pretty great for this purpose, if you can get your hands on it
(12) ModLacquer Goblin (a duochrome)
(13) Rococo Darkest Emerald (which to my mind is too blue for this purpose, but again, would probably pass in a pinch)
(14) China Glaze Agro (one of the original Hunger Games polishes, but Amazon still had it the last time I looked)
(15) Rimmel Rags to Riches - a Lasting Color which my local stores have taken off the shelves, but  which is probably still findable

I'm sure there are other suitable greens in the stores, but hopefully this will give you some ideas about what's out there, if you're in need of a Mardi Gras green. And I'll try to get some golds and purples together for later this week!