Finger Paints Easel-y Entertained

Guys! This polish sucks! Haha! I'm sort of gleeful about how much this sucks, because it looks like pure win in the bottle. Seriously deep, starry, sparkly, navy win! But no, it's just pure, unadulterated fail. My pictures don't look that bad actually, but let me tell you the cons before I even hit the pros.

First: the base looks colored. It is NOT. Second: the glitter is not that dense. At all. Third: This required many coats. Many, many. 4? 5? Way beyond my limit of patience. Fourth: It took forever to dry (even with Seche Vite, my love). Fifth: Cleanup was incredibly hard and little blue glitter got everywhere. Sixth: Taking it off? Even with a scrubby tub and foil... nightmare.

So, what's good about it? After a couple hours of not really moving whatsoever (yes, even with Seche Vite) I am happy to report that this polish dried and looked relatively pretty. Cue my deceptive pictures:

Look! I could not get that glitter off to save my life. Tiny and terrible, even acetone wouldn't wash it away.

Blue for shine, oooh, ahh.

OH, and the kicker of it all? This is one of those polishes, and there are certain ones, that you use once and there's an inexplicably HUGE dent in the bottle. It looks like I've used it five or six times. So strange. Another I can think of that was like this was Sally Hansen Purple Pizzazz. I'm digressing (as usual). I usually like Finger Paints, and this won't deter me from buying others (well, I might not buy another of their glitters without thinking long and hard). Anyway--if you have the patience for what amounts to a not terribly original glitter polish, then by all means make this a part of your stash. If not, please skip it, for your sanity's sake!

Thanks for looking!

China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy & Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure

First, friends, the nail polish gods have been kind to me lately!!

My Zoya exchange arrived today (minus Ivanka & Charla, which were backordered but are ALREADY on their way!). Last night, I found Hidden Treasure. Yesterday, I went to Sally's because my 15% off coupon was about to expire, and the SA allowed me to use the B2G1 promo on treatments: so I got Gelous to experiment with (I'm devoted to Instant Artificials but Gelous is cheaper by almost $3 and easier to find), a new Seche Vite (on sale for $5.99) and a lone Finger Paints polish in Blissfully Blue (my freebie, I have no true pale blues). This was all for like $10. Today, I got a NEW Sally's coupon for 20% off (check your mailboxes!) and on my way home from a meeting with one of my thesis advisors, I stopped at a Sally's I don't usually go to. Jackpot! They had China Glaze Poolside out AND the new Finger Paints (which was exciting because the B2G1 is only for April and I think these weren't supposed to be put out until May 1). So I got 3 new China Glazes (Flip Flop Fantasy, Towel Boy Toy & Sun Worshipper) and 3 new Finger Paints (Sketch N Etch, Scenery Greenery & Easel-y Entertained) for something like $14? SIX of 'em!

Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure & Gelous.

L to R: Sun Worshipper, Towel Boy Toy & Flip Flop Fantasy.

My thoughts on the Poolside collection: I bought the three most unique to my collection (I'm satisfied with the pink/green/yellow neons I have now, so I skipped the other three). I hope Sun Worshipper is everything I wanted Color Club Explosive to be. Towel Boy Toy seems like it might be in the realm of Color Club Pure Energy or Zoya Tallulah (I got this one mainly because I like these bright shimmery neon blues). My thoughts on Flip Flop Fantasy are below.

L to R: Easel-y Entertained, Sketch N Etch, Scenery Greenery, Blissfully Blue.

The new Finger Paints look wicked! I'm glad they're permanent because that means I can get a few more and don't have to get antsy about it. LE's are a bitch. I swatched the cremes--so smooth and opaque. Shimmers look nice too. Not sure about the glitter but we'll see. I've never bought a "core" line Finger Paints polish before, only LE, so I'm glad for these.

L to R: Mimi, Alegra, Nidhi, Gilda.

The Zoyas, which I swatched on paper look INCREDIBLE!!! The only one that looks slightly lackluster (due to sheerness issues) is Gilda. Can't wait to get Ivanka & Charla. I'll be wearing these soon to show ya'll.

Anyway anyway anyway... PHEW after all that craziness, what did I pick to wear?? Well, obviously I wanted to try out Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure seeing as it's hotter than sliced bread lately. I found it the first place I went! And because I was itching for something bright, enter Flip Flop Fantasy--a neon pink that is slightly orange toned, like a neon salmon/coral. Unique, I think. The application on that one was about what I expected for a neon, but a GOOD neon... 3 thin coats (over 1 coat Barielle Natural Nail Growth Activator & 1 coat Gelous), didn't get gloopy. Topped with 1 thin coat of Hidden Treasure & Seche Vite. And it actually dried.

So, not to add fuel to the fire, but I really like Hidden Treasure... yes, more than my Nfu-Ohs. The consistency of the polish itself is so much better... I find Nfu-Ohs to be a tad gelatinous, even with thinner... and the flakes were so thin and not clumpy... gorgeous rainbow iridescence (though it pulls very orangey over FFF). Anyway... snap if up if you run across it.

Thanks for looking!

American Apparel Mouse & Konad M65

So, here's Mouse. As I look back on this, I really wish I left Mouse alone and wore it as you see it below: un-mattified and un-Konaded. But I didn't because I wanted to experiment with a technique I saw on Laquerized's blog.

So this is Mouse, my second favorite taupe color (first is Rescue Beauty Lounge Grunge). It looked so divine and classy with shiny Seche Vite. Here's 2 coats (and no clean up, whoops):

Don't you love it? I happened to wear this polish on a day I saw my friend Amanda, and it made me think of her. Amanda and I very different and if you saw us together you might wonder why we're friends. I'm a tattooed, pierced, kinda "bad girl" looking chick (though I am not!), with a penchant for stuff that leans heavily on the rock'n'roll side of life. Amanda has this elegant, polished way about her I've never been able to pull off. She always looks classy in an understated sort of way, from her chic haircut to her elegantly understated wardrobe--we are as different as different could be. But we get along because we're both kinda bitchy! I think that is what attracted us to eachother (we used to work together), a mutual understanding. BUT, anyway, when I wore this color, I felt so... elegant... which, though I am many things, elegant is not one of them. I was totally pleased when I saw her the day I wore this, and the first thing she did was grab my hand and profess her admiration for my nails.

Digress much?? OK, back on topic. So, I mentioned above that I wanted to use a technique I saw on the Lacquerized blog that involved mattifying a color and then Konading a design over it in clear polish. Hers came out way better than mine, but I was pleased with the understated look that I achieved. This is from M65 and I used Barielle Manicure Extender for the clear.

It's kinda hard to do because even "slow dry" topcoats seem to dry wicked fast when they're scraped over a Konad plate. So give it a try but don't even bother attempting Seche Vite--that's a joke! (Trust me, I tried).

That's all for now :-)

Milani Dot Com

Oh, what a gorgeous color. This appears to be from a new collection called Liquid Metal, which I mentioned the other day. I immediately zeroed in on this one as the star of the collection, and indeed, it was the only one I bought. It's a crazy shimmery polish--not frosty but with an almost foil-like finish. It's finish kind of reminds me of Hard Candy Mr. Wrong. But deeper and more complex shimmer-wise. So it's not a full-on foil. Very shimmery and metallic. It sort of defies description in that area. Also in the area of color: it's plum, bronze and flashes a bit of gold and pink here and there. Very fall looking. But fall be damned, it's Spring and I will rock it because it is gorgeous!

2 coats, excellent formula, dried fast and shiny with Seche Vite, I present to you Dot Com:

I'm not sure if these pictures really capture its gorgeousness. But it rocks! I highly recommend seeking it out if you can. Also, due to its intense shimmer, I may go back for one of the others, because this was seriously stellar.

Thanks for looking!

American Apparel Cotton & Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday

Let me start by saying I hate that Deborah Lippmann went eponymous. I liked Lippmann Collection so much better. Anyway. For some weird reason I was very anxious to try out Cotton. I don't think I own a white polish. And this is not straight up white, it's the white of your favorite, washed umpteen times, white cotton t-shirt. A creamy, slightly off-white. Love the shade. The formula was the worst of the 5 I've tried so far BUT it wasn't really that bad. Honestly, I didn't expect it to be good. I feel like whites and pastels that have a lot of white in them are always kind of a bitch to apply. This was 2 coats, the first of which was, as expected, kinda streaky. The second one started well, but by the time I got to my other hand it was getting gloppy. It also didn't seem to dry very quickly with Seche Vite, which is sometimes the case with gloppier polishes. Anyhow, after waiting a bit for it to dry, I layered on a coat of Lippmann's Happy Birthday, a splurge I made around Christmas because I just had to have this glitter. It's like 2nd grade arts & crafts on your nail.

The combo of the two polishes--Happy Birthday over Cotton--reminds me of multi-colored craft glitter sprinkled on freshly applied Elmer's Glue. AWESOME. Or at least I think so.

So, first I took a picture of Cotton. It bubbled a bit (my fault), but I wanted a picture for posterity. The flash washes it out, it's really a bit off white in reality.

And here's 2 coats Cotton (with a coat of Seche Vite) and 1 coat Happy Birthday (with a coat of Seche Vite to top it off).

Fun! I love looking at Happy Birthday. I needed a fix of glitter after all these darn cremes. I figure I'll probably never wear Cotton alone (too pale for white) but I'll definitely enjoy it for layering experiments such as this. Tomorrow's post might be creme but it will definitely *not* be an American Apparel polish, I promise! Even I need a break from their awesomeness.

Thanks for looking!

Claire's Yel

So! After all that hauling in Canada, my first manicure upon returning to the States was... NOT one of the polishes I bought! Haha. Actually, it was a RAOK (Random Act of Kindness) from a kind lady on MUA! I'd always wanted Yel from Claire's, but my store never had it. It was discontinued a while ago. Anyway, after hearing of my never-ending yearning for this color, she sent it to me and I was super excited to try it because the color looked so fun. I'd worn American Apparel's Downtown LA for FIVE DAYS, so I was in the mood for something different.

Yel is a pretty shimmery sky blue with large sized holo shimmer and a purple-y duochrome. Not that I've been particularly down in the dumps lately, but this one sure brightens my mood--it's just so happy and funky and awesome. Application was actually pretty good--better than Dream Catcher. I used 3 coats for opacity, and didn't have any glopping or streaking or anything of the sort. Seche Vite dried it to a nifty shine.

Let's see if I can capture the glory of this one (OK, the duochrome is MIA, forgive me!):

Blurred here to show some holo sparkle.

Awesome, right?? So pretty for these sunny days we're starting to get in Upstate NY--going to be in the high 70's for the next few days!! Big change from Winnipeg where it we had a high in the low 60's and a low of 9 whopping degrees (Fahrenheit)!! They make us badass New Yorkers look like wusses, I kid you not. On another note: Anybody know where the name "Yel" comes from? I like it, but I don't get it!

Thanks for looking!

Cheap Thrills

So today I had to go to the doctor's, which sucks for one reason: I'm out of school this semester and have no health insurance. I love the good ol' USA. But, because I was fairly certain something was wrong (wheezing is never good when you've never had asthma or any type of breathing problem), I went. It didn't end up being too bad, but it was still annoying to have to fork over $94 instead of $20 (and at $94 I got off easy!!!). At any rate, I did have a couple fun, cheap little discoveries of late. So, I bring you a Cheap Thrills post, inspired by the fact that I got a couple little gems (Haha pun! You'll see why in a minute...) today that only cost $1. They should both be relatively easy for you to find if you are interested.

The first item is the E.L.F. Nourishing Cuticle Pen. Available at Target and E.L.F.'s website, it's a plastic marker filled with cuticle care ingredients, and it costs $1. Yes, $1. I don't want to call this an oil because it's not "oily" but whatever's in there is good stuff. The package boasts that this pen contains: avacado & almond oils, and is vitamin fortified: E, A, C, Pro-Vitamin B5. The back of the package also notes that it contains Grape Seed and Aloe Vera oils. It looks like this:

Cuticle oil is not my favorite thing. I'm not terribly convinced of its benefits and it's messy. This is not. The marker is actually semi-dry feeling, and at first you'll think it's doing nothing, but look closely and you'll see a nice sheen on your cuticles. It feels like you're coloring on your cuticles. Color a bit on each finger. My cuticles looked instantly better and weren't messy. Several hours later and they still look noticeably moisturized and cared for. It actually gets kind of addicting to apply it. At first I was skeptical because the marker felt so dry, but I urge you to color with it on a few fingers, get the juices flowing and then you'll see what I mean. It does *not* glop out the treatment, and I think this is one of its main benefits. I suggest buying a couple at a time! I'm not saying this is a miracle cure for seriously problem cuticles but if all you're worried about is maintenance, then I think this pen will impress you. Definitely worth it.

Second for today is this little nail art kit that comes with 120 gems. And yes, it is also $1.

These are ubiquitous at Dollar Tree stores down here. Hardly any of them have polish but ALL of them have this. Since I'm hesitant to feature those lovely Sally Hansen duo packs or single polishes that pop up now and again (because they're so sporadic), I've decided to feature something that's (probably) definitely available at anyone's local Dollar Tree. I don't usually do decals or non-Konad nail art, but because it was only a buck, I grabbed this. It's actually quite cute and I like how small the rhinestones are. You'll definitely need a pair of tweezers to work with them, though. Here's a close-up of some of the gems:

I used a thin coat of the clear polish it comes first, as a base to stick the gems to. Then I placed them with tweezers and used a coat of the same clear all over, followed by a coat of Seche Vite. It worked pretty well! I don't know if the look's for me, but I don't regret getting this kit whatsoever. These might be fun for accenting Konad designs.

Here's a couple that I just threw on for example:

The right one reminds me of up arrows on an elevator.

So, these are some cheapies that I highly recommend searching out if you can. Thanks for looking, more nails to come tomorrow!

Sinful Colors Rise And Shine

Another lovely new Sinful for you today. I hemmed & hawed today over this or Mint Apple but this one won, because I'm in a vaguely crappy mood (I also might have pneumonia) and I just needed something happy on my newly short nails. This is sorta in the vein of China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise (correct me if I'm wrong, sometimes my memory fails me), but I think I like it better. The base is more opaque, and the shimmer is more visible. I think the formula is also better for me. And it's pretty! Really pretty. Perfect thing for premature spring fever. I'm starting to appreciate Sinful Colors a lot because they're cheap. They're not perfect, but the shades are pretty cutting edge and you just can't go wrong. Plus, the formula, while it can be tricky/spotty, isn't, in my opinion, anything that should be a complete deterrent. Get thee polish thinner! So, this is two coats, and it's perfectly opaque. Like my other recent Sinful post, this polish also had lots gunked under the cap when I opened it. It's a disease! This one also must have a bit of neon in it because it dried quite matte between coats. It looked kinda blah, but slather on some Seche Vite and loveliness ensues. I swear.

Here is my evidence:

See? Fun. Since Mint Apple lost out last night and I'm on a green kick, I guess it's no secret what's (probably) coming up....

Thanks for looking!

Orly Gumdrop

Hey, Orly Gumdrop. What's with you?? You pull so green in the bottle. I heard people buzzing that you were dupe-y to China Glaze's For Audrey. I said "Psssh. No way." Then I put you on my nails and you pulled blue! And then I saw the dupe-ish-ness. Sigh. I wish you just pulled a bit more green, like in the bottle. You look like a very blue based mint green (which I do NOT think For Audrey is, some do), kinda dusty and not chalky. This is why I chose you to try first. And you For Audrey'd a little too much on me. Boo. Pretty, just not what I expected.

Your formula was a bit clunky... thick, and you didn't self-even. I'm still talking to you, and it's kind of weird. I'll stop. The formula was thick and didn't self-even, and Seche Vite didn't really solve this problem. I think I might have been impatient with my application though, I was on my way to work. I also didn't use my normal Barielle basecoat, but their Hydrating Ridge Filler instead. I did this because my nails have been breaking a bit lately. Like chipping on top. Super-duper annoying. Anyway, this was a mistake because at work I had two more chips and my nails just keep getting shorter (as you will see in tomorrow's post).

But, onward I press. Here's Gumdrop:

Though this one was a bit tricky, it's not going to deter me from trying the rest of the Sweet collection that's awaiting my use.

Thanks for looking!