Swatch & Review / NotD

   My town is currently experiencing a heat wave, with temperatures hitting 90 every day this week.  (In our little arctic suburb, this is a big deal.)  I don't complain about the weather, but I will admit that it has sapped my creativity the past few days!  I come home from work and crash; it's too warm to get up and do things until 8pm when the sun is going down.  So rather than paint my nails last night, I waited and did them this morning.

   I used I♥NP Angel Burp and Essie Sweet Talker.  I looove this easy-on-the-eyes cotton candy combination!  My nails feel so delicate and pretty.  Both of these polishes were untrieds for me, so let me tell you about them~

   Story time!  Essie Sweet Talker is from their 2010 foray into retail sales.  (In fact, it was an exclusive color, so all bottles of Sweet Talker should have a white printed "Essie" on the side, and a sticker with the name on top.)  This color landed on my wishlist right away when I was first getting into polish, and I managed to track down a bottle (along with a bunch of other colors) on eBay.  Then it was put away in a box, where it sat, and sat... and sat.  I have a few Essie polishes I love, but I learned that more often than not I don't like the brand's formula, so I allowed myself to be distracted by other polishes for quite awhile.  I was afraid Sweet Talker would be sheer, pool-y and need at least 3 coats.  Today I'm happy to say that it exceeded my expectations.  I used 2 careful coats, giving it time to dry in between.  It is actually a bit on the thick side - I'll add a bit of polish thinner to my bottle.  The aqua microshimmer in the bottle isn't as visible on the nail, but it doesn't disappear, either.  And I love the pastel blue.  I want a straight-up creme in exactly this color!

   I♥NP Angel Burp is a really pretty glitter in a shimmery clear base.  On my thumb I'm wearing 2 coats, the other nails had 1 coat.  The formula was a bit thick and I did get some teeny bubbles when I was squishing glitter around with my brush - these really only show in pictures.  I topped it off with 1 coat of Poshe and don't have any texture from the glitters; they are thin and lay very flat!

   And what pretty glitters they are.  Satin pink squares and hexes mixed with iridescent squares!  (I'll definitely be combining this with Nyx Girls Dreamy Glitter sometime for a manicure filled with pink pastel shape goodness.)  The iridescent squares shine with a whole rainbow of soft hues, not just the peachy-pink that you see in the bottle!  If you don't already have this glitter and you love it as much as I do, be quick!  This is another discontinued I Love Nail Polish shade, but I saw it is still available at http://www.ilnp.com/ as of today!

Swatch & Review

   L.A. Colors recently added new glitters and cremes to their Color Craze line.  I picked up six of the new glitters, and these are the three I've tried so far.  I've been really happy with them because they are exciting nail polishes at a very low price!  From left to right below they are Candy Sprinkles, Flurry, and Broken Hearted.

Candy Sprinkles


   This polish may look familiar, as it is very dupe-y for Deborah Lippman Candy Shop.  It isn't the first look alike, with Claire's releasing their own Candy Shop polish.  I passed on that one because of the warm-toned pink base.  It is worth noting that Candy Sprinkles looks paler and cooler in the bottle than it is when dry, but I found the color to be wearable.  I don't own the original Candy Shop so I can't make a comparison here, but Internet findings show that DL's blend has a jelly pink base and more concentrated glitter, more of the larger glitters, and additional orange glitter.

   So how do I feel about this rendition?  The creme base is opaque at two coats, and the mix of glitter is very good.  Larger hexes in silver, magenta, green and yellow.  Small pieces of silver, blue and green.  Red glitters are tiniest of all.  Personally I really like it.  They put a lot of blue in, which sets off the pink nicely, and having the smallest glitter in only red makes it stand out.  It's not perfectly balanced but also not an overloaded, muddled mess.  Two coats were smoothed out with regular top coat and wore well.  Removal was surprisingly easy.  And when you can buy it for $1-$2 per bottle, it's not hard for me to choose Candy Sprinkles over either version of Candy Shop.

Flurry

   This is the manicure I'm wearing right now!  My base colors were China Glaze Smoke and Ashes, and Zoya Yummy, which was the closest blue I had to Flurry's bottle color.  I love this polish more than I expected to!  Flurry is packed with both iridescent micro glitter and small hexes.  My pictures can't fully capture all the color shift going on here.  Over black the glitters flash emerald green, lime green, yellow and orange.  Sometimes even teal blue.  Over blue I see aqua green, purple, yellow and faint orange.  My husband said they looked "like space" with all the colors, and I have to agree!

  I used one coat on my index and pinky fingers, two on my middle and ring fingers.  I like it both ways.  The polish has a thick-but-smooth formula that is very easy to apply.  It dries nicely and is completely smooth with top coat.  I think the blue jelly base should be sheer enough to layer over a variety of polishes.  Maybe not the most unique polish but I'd definitely recommend it!

Broken Hearted

   I wore this polish two ways, so you're getting double pictures of everything!  My right hand had a gradient of Essie Licorice over China Glaze Wicked Style, which is the bottle color of Broken Hearted's jelly base.  My camera was having trouble capturing the vibrant pinkness!  I used one coat of Broken Hearted.

   After using Broken Hearted and seeing how vibrant the base was I decided to do my left hand differently.  I used two coats of Broken Hearted both alone and over my black accent nails.  While it does add a nice bit of pinkness I wasn't too fond of the visible nail line, so I freehanded my tips with Wicked Style.


   One coat or two, look at those colors!  This blend of glitters is awesome.  I can't think of any other polishes that mix iridescent shredded bits with small and tiny hexes.  The shreds shine orange to yellow.  The hexes flash an entire rainbow, showing mainly blues and greens.  It is like crushed candy on your nails.  =)


  Application was easy, with a few glitter shreds needing to be poked down into submission.  Top coat smoothed everything out nicely.  I didn't have to fish the glitter out at all, in fact I often was wiping excess back into the bottle!  I'd say black is definitely the base color of choice for this pretty polish, but it can make an interesting French manicure, as well.  (I will note that I had some patchy pink staining on my right hand; the fault of Wicked Style.  My left hand is fine.)  I doubt I'll ever use more than two coats, because I wouldn't want the distinct colors and glitters to get lost.


   I'm very happy with these three polishes, they are definitely keepers!  L.A. Colors 2012 Color Craze polishes are sold in 13ml bottles that you might be able to find in your local dollar store!  Have you spotted these yet?  Which manicure is your favorite?

NotD / Nail Art

   Yay for titles made from the names of polishes used!  I did some pretty pastel nails for my Happy Halfiversary (you know, the 6-month mark of being married!) manicure.

  I love layering glitter over cremes, and I love mint green with pastel pink...  Yes, I am very happy with how it all turned out!  I also love finding cheap polishes that I can fall in love with.  Here are the polishes I used:

   Finger Paints Hue Left A Message? is an adorable micro glitter which only has a cameo in this manicure.  Pure Ice Home Run, a wonderful mint green creme - I used two coats as my base!  Nyx Girls Dreamy Glitter, and Revlon Whimsical.  Then I added nail art stickers to a couple nails as accents.

   I used one coat of Whimsical over Home Run, which didn't alter the color at all because Whimsical has a similar base color that is very sheer.  You can transform it quite easily, so rather than use 4-plus coats of it alone I prefer it for layering.  After Whimsical I tried a thin coat of Hue Left A Message? on my middle finger, but the glitter was still more concentrated than I wanted.  I moved on!

   The next polish was Dreamy Glitter, a mix of pastel pink stars, iridescent hexes and small iridescent glitter in a translucent pink base.  I really love this polish!  It is easy to work with, spreading nicely and not impossible to get the stars out of the bottle.  Plus it is pretty cheap.  ;D

   To finish my manicure I used a fast-drying topcoat and went to bed.  The next morning I added a pastel nail art sticker to my accent nail so my lonely Hue Left A Message? nail wouldn't look so out of place.  I put on another top coat layer which smoothed the star glitter pieces out better.

   Thanks for letting me share these with you, hope you enjoyed them as much as I did!  A quick note on the ragged cuticle area on my index finger; I cut my finger badly two weeks ago and as it heals it keeps peeling.  I can't do much about it other than give it time.  I took these pictures at the beginning of the week and I'm still wearing this manicure today.  My index finger is looking a lot better, and amazingly my nails only have tip wear.  I'm also happy to say that my nails have grown out to a good length and patient filing has earned me an even square shape... finally!

Swatch & Review

   Second to last Different Dimension nail polish!  This one is a rainbow flakie named Iris.  I wanted something like this in my collection, and after using it I'm very happy that I chose this particular polish!  Also, I snagged Orly After Party from a blog sale.  Once I had it in my hands I knew I couldn't swatch Iris over a plain black creme as I originally planned...

   I used two coats of After Party and two coats of Iris topped with one coat of Poshe.  Both polishes contain flakies, which are tricky to capture, so I took several pictures.  Read on to find out what I though of each one!

   I finally caved and hunted down some of the goodness that is Revlon Whimsical!  Once I had this polish I wanted to wear it right away because I was in the mood for a pastel.  I used 1 coat of China Glaze Kinetic Candy as a base, and them two coats of Whimsical...

   Read on for more pictures and what I think of this polish!

   Happy Spring, everyone!!

   I think I have fallen for my first ugly-pretty nail polish.  I guess it really isn't ugly, generally only a few greens and other phlegm-like colors can qualify for that...  But this is a weird pewter duochrome thing that I wouldn't describe as beautiful.

   My pictures are taken in sunlight at various angles.  This is two coats of the polish, which is fairly sheer but wearable with two careful coats.  It also contains silver microglitters which sparkle in the light or make the polish look flecked in the shade - I like that a lot.

   Hey all!  I need to get back into the habit of taking pictures of my eyeshadow creations and what-not.  Finally I am bringing you a Face of the Day post.  This is actually yesterdays news, but of course the mani made it through the night and I'm rocking it today, as well.  I was in a good mood yesterday and the sun was out for most of the day, so I celebrated that with colorful pastel nails topped with glitter, and my outfit was yellow, pink, and white - you can't get much cheerier than that!  It seems like it has been awhile since I had the time to play with my eyeshadows so it was nice to be all pretty~

   Just a quick look at my sad post-work nails.  A bit of tip wear going on.  Two coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Deep Purple.  This is a really pretty color with teeny pink and blue shimmers in it.  Then a coat of Pure Ice "Busted" overtop.  Busted is full of iridescent shimmer-glitter that mainly shows up as pink in this combination.  I've realized that I am drawn to purple polish in pictures, but hardly ever reach for it.  Strange!

   In the interest of organizing my blog better I'm creating more specific tags, or labels.  These are so you can find a certain type of polish quickly.  Brand name tags have already been put in use.  All nail polish tags will begin with "np-", and the types will be defined as follows:

   ~ Finishes ~

Creme - also known as cream, but hey, that's a color!  Creme polishes are pigmented, opaque, shiny colors.  True cremes contain no shimmer or glitter.  Think of shiny enamel paint.
Effect - what I'm dubbing the crackle, shatter, and graffiti colors.  Also includes color-changing, glowing, and magnetic polishes.
Flake - contain larger, odd-shaped and usually iridescent reflective pieces.  Think of fish scales.
Frost - or pearl, these polishes can usually be identified by their brush-stroked look.
Glitter - polish containing glitter!  Often meant for use as a topcoat.  Sparkly!
Iridescent - polishes that change color in different lighting, or have "flashes" of a color in them.  Other terms can be lustre or duochrome.  Think of soap bubbles, insect wings and oil slicks.
Jelly - these polishes are sheer, yet have depth and look almost squishy or wet.  Very shiny, good for layering.
Matte - flat color with no shine after it dries, which is quickly.
Metals - polishes with a metallic, mirror, foil or chrome quality.
Prism - or holographic nail polishes contain special glitters that reflect a whole rainbow of color.
Satin - polishes that dry to a sheen somewhere between a creme and a matte.
Shimmer - these have smaller, fine microglitters or "glass fleck" particles that sparkle faintly.  May only show in strong light.

   ~ Colors ~

Bright -  vibrant colors, and neons.
Dark - deep, dark colors of any hue.
Light - all pale or pastel shades.
Mid - any mid-range color that doesn't fall in with bright, dark or light.

   ~ Other ~

B3F - stands for "Big 3 Free".  Polishes that do not contain Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Formaldehyde, or Toluene.  Besides those chemicals posing potential health risks, polishes that do and don't contain them often don't work together well.
B3+ - my term "Big 3 Plus".  Not only are they b3f, they also exclude other risky ingredients.

   This is my list, made up according to how I describe things myself and usually see things described as.  It may be updated or added to from time to time.  I do try to be accurate, so if anyone would like to offer corrections, suggestions or refinement please comment below.  I really hope that these tags can be of benefit in the future for anyone searching for specific types of polish I have posted about.  If anyone else wants to use a similar tagging post on their blog go right ahead, but if I inspired you a link back here would be great!