BB Couture For Nails Joker, Konad Plate M78

My fiance bought me this polish! I showed it to him and we both thought it was pretty awesome looking. I looked at quite a few swatches online before we got it, but when it came in the mail I was ever-so-slightly disappointed. Alas, in real life, this polish lacks the brilliant blue flash I thought it would have. It's there, it's just not as dramatic. And dramatic was what I wanted. That aside, it is pretty wonderful otherwise. A medium blue/purple, reminds me of the Joker's suit in the cartoon version of Batman. I'm pretty much in love with BB Couture's formula and their interesting polishes.

This is 2 coats:

Then, I got bored (and snowed in), so I threw on a Konad over it. I used one of the new plates, M78, and Color Club's Worth the Risque (a pretty silver holo) for the stamp. I love Color Club polishes, and I'm lucky enough to have a beauty supply nearby that sells them and carries the new collections.

It looked pretty nifty, got a compliment from the girl at Sally's today while I was out picking up Instant Artificials. I'm about 3/4 down my bottle, but I had a $5 coupon that expires in a few days so I picked up a extra. I'm in super-hate with Sally's right now. Literally the week after I renewed my card, they raised the prices... I mean the 2 $5 coupons for renewing do cover the cost of the card but now you only save like a buck on Seche and IA... I dunno. I doubt I'll be shopping there much this year, except for essentials... Anyway. BB Couture's Joker! I like it.

Thanks for lookin'!

Claire's Dream Catcher

I've never much felt compelled to buy Claire's nail polish. I almost bought Yel once upon a time but then I didn't, and eventually it was discontinued and now I hate myself. Kidding. But let me begin with another story about how I didn't buy Chanel Jade. I did not buy this polish. I sat up the night it was released and I let it go. I didn't realize it was shimmery and translucent and beautiful. And so I didn't buy it, not that I've ever bought a $23 polish. (But once I may have bought a few of those Knockout Matte polishes, which used to be $22...) But then I sorta wanted it. So, once I heard this was dupe-ish to Jade, I went and got it and feel mildly satisfied. It's not your average mint. So Claire's polish? I pretty much hate it. I swatched this when I got it and it SUCKED. It went on with the consistency of peanut butter. And so I thinned, just a bit. It got better, but about 2/3rds of the way through this manicure, it began to thicken again. Which is especially annoying when compounded with the fact that this was a necessary 3 coater. Ah well. I actually put it on and intended to take it right off again, but so far, I haven't. It's kinda lovely.

My next NOTD's are probably gonna be mainly drugstore, pastels and a few BB Coutures thrown in there for good measure. Lots coming soon.

Thanks for looking!

Wet 'N Wild Wild Shine Night Prowl

Nothing terribly exciting for you today, and I'm not quite sure why. This polish is very pretty. From what I gather, this is new to the Wet 'N Wild lineup, and best of all? It costs a whopping 99 cents. It's much prettier than my pictures will show. It also wore fairly well, but I did get some tipwear pretty quickly which is unusual for me. Not sure if that was me or the polish though, hard to tell. It's a sheer black loaded with purple glitter. Yay! These pictures fail to capture the sparkliness of it all. I don't k now why I'm not so enthused about it, but I think that's me and not the polish talking...

I guess, for once, I don't have much to comment on here... this polish was spot on and I can't complain on any front.

2 coats.

Very worth the investment. From the Wild Shine group, I also grabbed Blue Moon and Sunny Side Up recently, and I can't wait to try them, so I'm sure they'll be featured in posts pretty soon. Thanks for looking!

Orly Sweet Collection & Orly Foil FX Collection

So, I may or may not have gone out today. These may or my not have followed me home. For once, Sally's had everything I was looking for. I love Orly polish, and I just got done swatching all of them... they are to die for. When will I get sick of pastels... I almost bought all 6 of the Sweet Collection before I regained my composure and realized that I would likely not wear Cotton Candy and that Lemonade was an exact dupe for China Glaze Lemon Fizz. Pixy Stix I bought mostly for the name, but the color is pretty unique. It's also a jelly, which I didn't know until I swatched it. Gumdrop is the bluest mint I've encountered, but keep in mind I don't have Essie Mint Candy Apple. I feel like this would lean towards that end of the mint spectrum. Snowcone is gorgeous, might be a dupe for Maybelline Pie in the Sky, but who cares? Awesome. Lollipop is also so pretty, not a dupe for China Glaze Light As Air, not sure about Essie Lilacism.

L to R: Orly Sweet Collection in Pixy Stix, Gumdrop, Snowcone & Lollipop.

And then these... ah, yes. These. These gorgeous shiny little babies came home with me as well. No way in hell was I letting myself miss out on these. The only one I might have dupe for is Shine, the silver, but I don't even care. Rage is completely unique, and the name is awesome. And Luxe is just hot. Yay!

L to R: Orly Foil FX Collection in Rage, Shine, Luxe.

I don't usually share bottle pics, but these are so great. Those little lip glosses on the Sweet bottles? They smell like their namesakes. It's actually kinda creepy.

Thanks for looking!

Maybelline Express Finish Minty & Pie In The Sky, Konad M76

Here are two of the new, limited edition, Spring Maybellines for you. There's seven (I think?) in total, and so far the hardest for me to find was Goody Plum Drop, which I passed on twice initially, and was impossible to find once I wanted it (which I did, finally). I really like these, color-wise. Minty isn't terribly unique but I grabbed it anyway, being somewhat inexplicably partial to both pastels and the color mint. I don't dress in pastels or wear them in any form, but on my nails I do enjoy them. Pie In The Sky is pretty unique, I think. A nice cornflower blue pastel, not a baby blue. So the formula? Let me begin by saying that these are not for amateurs or those faint of heart. If you balk at a difficult polish, stay far, far away. These are lumpy, bumpy and a bit gloppy. Thinner helps... sort of. The second coat, plus a nice hefty coat of Seche Vite help even things out, if you get that far. I've also heard that some of these have terrible brushes---I didn't feel that way about mine, they were OK. Since there's a plethora of pastels out right now, I decided to sort of do skittles with this one... by which I mean I alternated Minty and Pie in the Sky (Goody Plum Drop was still MIA to me when I did this manicure).

This is 2 coats for each color. You may note that I finally decided to stop being lazy and reinstated the watermark:

There was a lot of clean-up involved.

And, since I feel that creme polishes are the perfect base for Konad, I added a little something from plate M76, which is one of the newer ones. I think they've started to make the lines wider and more deeply engraved for the line-based designs on the new plates, because I found this VERY easy to work with and place. No problems with the lines breaking or not picking up at all.

I like it. Delicate, flowery, but not overly girly in Konad Black Special Polish.

Can you tell I'm from the Northeast and currently being blanketed and re-blanketed with snow? I'm craving Spring colors.

Thanks for looking!

BB Couture For Nails Napa Valley Red

I bought four of the Vampy Varnish collaboration polishes from BB Couture, and here is the third one. I've heard buzz that this is the hit of the collection, and it sure is gorgeous. I still love Vampy Varnish best. But this, and Mendocino Midnight (which I just realized I wore and forgot to take pics of... shit!) definitely tie for second. I'll admit that I bought this because I heard it was probably going to be the hit of the collection. And when I got it, I wrote it off because in the bottle, it looks like another in the vein of China Glaze Ruby Pumps or OPI Smitten With Mittens (which I also wore recently and neglected to photograph....I suck). So I put it off. I'm so glad to realize, however, that once this polish is on, it's much more dramatic than the other two. While Ruby Pumps or Smitten with Mittens are more cheery, holiday reds, Napa Valley Red evokes the deep, plummy, almost browned-red of red wine. The glitter is apparent but not over the top at all. In some lights, it appears a blackened red, quite dramatic and romantic.

The photos I have for you below are pretty accurate for me, though it's slightly redder (and ever so slightly less brown) in real life. It's almost like a garnet. Claret. I can't figure a good descriptor. But it's very, very pretty.

Another slam dunk for BB, whoever she is! I've got more coming your way, so keep an eye out!

Thanks for looking!

China Glaze ReFresh-Mint

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