Nina Ultra Pro Glamrock

I recently encountered this lovely little beast at Sally Beauty Supply. There seemed to be a bunch of new Nina polishes there, I'll have to give them further inspection when I go back. These are almost twice as much here as they are at home in the States, which is kinda silly. Glamrock is a jelly-black with tons of super shiny silver glitter, which overall gives it a pewter effect. In the bottle it looks more black based, but on the nail it pulls pretty grey. But I like it a lot, lots of glitter, lots of sizes and super shiny, as I mentioned. It reminds of Borghese Nero Magico (excuse that crap swatch), a seriously great polish, but with a less opaque base and more glitter. I actually like the more vampy Nero Magico slightly better, but you really can't compare them in the end, as they're pretty different.

I'm going to a concert tonight, so this felt like a fitting manicure. Who am I going to see? Don't laugh, but Rancid and Against Me! Yes, I'm 25 (14?). In all seriousness, I'm going to see Rancid mostly, as they were my gateway drug into punk rock (along with the Clash) when I was 14. I've seen them twice before but not in a very, very long time. Plus there was a Groupon for it, and I have nothing better to do tonight.

Anyhow. Glamrock.

Sorry my camera can't handle the glitter! Another nice polish from Nina. The formula was pretty chunky though... but there is a shit-ton of glitter in this thing, so that's probably why. Only two coats for this coverage. I used Gelous under Seche Vite to smooth it out, because it definitely was gonna be a bumpy ride otherwise. If you see this, grab it! It's very pretty and definitely a welcome addition to my already over-sized collection (hoard). Nina polishes are a Sally's house brand but kinda underrated I think. Purple-Xing is a favorite, I know, I also have Emerald City, In A Tiff and Sailor... plus a few others somewhere from that metallic Velvet collection that came out a couple Christmases ago. I always wanted Salsa but never found it. What's your favorite Nina Ultra Pro polish?

Nina Ultra Pro Purple-Xing

Another real oldie here. Probably a month ago I wore this one. It's a shimmery gorgeous purple with multi-sized holographic glitter--and yes, this polish has been untried in my Helmer for over six months. I think my polish lover card needs to be revoked. Not only this, but it was flawless. The base was opaque in 2 coats, and it didn't swallow the glitter. It dried fast. It was freakin' magical. I only have a handful of Nina Ultra Pro polishes and I don't have a complaint about one of them (I've reviewed a few here before, see the Nina Ultra Pro tag on the right-hand column).

So here's two coats of Purple-xing (my take on the name: It's not Purple X-ing (like crossing) it's Purple-xing like perplexing, as in confusing, which I think makes more since because this polish is kind of busy and distracting):

If you do not own this, you must. I think these are $3-something USD at Sally's. Woo! And seriously? It's a must have. I can't believe I let this sit here for so long!!

Thanks for reading :D

Nina Ultra Pro Emerald City

Another messy oldie for today. I guess I went through a phase where cleanup was obviously not a top priority. Haha. So, Nina Ultra Pro Emerald City. What a damn pretty polish. Blackened emerald green, hints a bit of blue, shimmery, velvety, awesome. These aren't the greatest shots of it, but like I said, I'm still perfecting my photography skills here.

Against my lovely red wall for contrast.

You can see the blue in it so well here.

Yay! 2 coats.

For such a beautiful, well-wearing color, this is sort of a lackluster tribute. It's simply gorgeous. It's in their core collection, which is available at Sally Beauty Supply.

Thanks for lookin'!

Nina Ultra Pro In A Tiff

So! Today we have Nina Ultra Pro's In A Tiff. In this shade range--read Tiffany box blue--China Glaze's For Audrey seems to have swept the category as far as popularity. There are several others (I believe Diamond Cosmetics makes one). These baby blue/minty green pastels seem popular lately, and I can see why. They're oddly eye-catching, and more bold that one would expect.

These Nina polishes are found at the ever-trusty Sally Beauty supply, and I'd never bought any before this weekend. I had a $5 off $20 coupon and I had already fulfilled my lemmings for Holiday FingerPaints & China Glazes. I didn't need any treatments or base/top coats (except the same night I smashed a bottle of Seche Vite on the hardwood floor... so now I could use some...) anyway. So I decided to use the coupon to try something new, and I got 4 Nina's (this one, Sailor, Emerald City and Purple X-ing) and 2 Orly's (Plum Noir & It's Up To Blue... I love Orly's, I want them all). This is the first of the bunch that I've tried, and I was quite impressed.

This is two coats, it was very opaque and the formula was OK--not spectacular, not awful--but leaning on the thick side. I probably should've thinned it a bit beforehand. It wore pretty well, but Seche Vite + Barielle Manicure Extender make everything pretty indestructible on me. In a different move than For Audrey or other Tiffany blues, this contains silvery shimmer. It is fairly pronounced in the bottle, but much less pronounced on the nail. I could barely catch it with the naked eye, much less my camera. I've seen other photos, however, where it was noticeable. Who knows. Here she is:

Let's pretend I attempted clean-up before this, ok? Haha. OH did I mention!? These babies retail for just over $3 a pop! You can shop a lot of discount polish online, but I hate forking over for shipping and often shop locally because I adore the American pastime of instant gratification (and Sally's is generous with their coupons... mmm, I love coupons). They're cheap! Very pretty colors, good quality. Buy some!

Stay tuned... lovely NYX in store for tomorrow.