Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (shade - again, look at the gorgeous shimmer!):
Natural light (sun):
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Zoya Kimmy
In the second of the Sunshine Collection polishes, I present Zoya Kimmy, a beautiful sparkly red polish. Zoya's description says this polish is a "gleaming metallic candy apple red brightened by gold sparkle. Not your usual red shimmer- this one has a fiery attitude." This color was fabulous and applied like a dream-- I used two coats here. Plus it's sparkly and sexy and fun, so how can you go wrong?
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (shade - again, look at the gorgeous shimmer!):
Natural light (sun):
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (shade - again, look at the gorgeous shimmer!):
Natural light (sun):
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Awesome Birthday Present!
So, my friends know I am a polishaholic and to that end, one of my dear friends, Emily, just delivered a great little nail related present to me! Emily, who has her own blog about stamping, is a former roommate of mine and we were in each other's weddings and I am about to become godmother to her first child! Anyway, first up, she made me this delightful card, which I adore:
Isn't that awesome?! Love.It!!
And onto my gift:
Cool!! Dior claims that this is a "legendary and ultra-effective nail cream that encourages nail growth and improves resistance." Definitely something I need!
You are supposed to massage this into the skin around your nails, and they recommend doing it overnight for maximum effectiveness. Although they don't specify in the little booklet, I suspect that it would work better if I wasn't wearing polish, so one night a week for the next several weeks I will take off my polish and use this and report back! Actually, I will also try using it with my polish on as well, just to see how that works too!
Right now I can tell you that this cream has a waxy feel to it and smells delicious. Can't wait to start using it! Thanks Emily!
Isn't that awesome?! Love.It!!
And onto my gift:
Cool!! Dior claims that this is a "legendary and ultra-effective nail cream that encourages nail growth and improves resistance." Definitely something I need!
You are supposed to massage this into the skin around your nails, and they recommend doing it overnight for maximum effectiveness. Although they don't specify in the little booklet, I suspect that it would work better if I wasn't wearing polish, so one night a week for the next several weeks I will take off my polish and use this and report back! Actually, I will also try using it with my polish on as well, just to see how that works too!
Right now I can tell you that this cream has a waxy feel to it and smells delicious. Can't wait to start using it! Thanks Emily!
OPI Navy Shatter
While I was wearing Zoya Reva, I decided to pull out another of the new shatters by OPI-- Navy Shatter. I love navy blue and thought that it might look nice with the pink of Reva. The shatter applied nicely, if maybe a little thin compared to some of the other shatters. I wish it had crackled a bit differently, but that's probably due to the application-- a thicker application might have resulted in better shattering.
That said, I really hated this on my nails. For one, there had been some wear on the tips of my nails and the navy shatter created a blue line on the edges of my nails as it dried and shatter. Ugly! In addition, I hated the navy blue and pink/gold together. Perhaps if I had let the shatter dry and not put on a top coat, I would have liked it more. I don't know; for some reason I just didn't like this at all. I took pictures and then took the whole thing off, something I rarely do! I will have to see what this shatter looks like with other base colors. Maybe something without so much sparkle? Now that I look at it more, it's not so terrible, but I was extremely unsatisfied with it. I'm also not really satisfied with these pictures either, so I apologize for that.
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (shade):
That said, I really hated this on my nails. For one, there had been some wear on the tips of my nails and the navy shatter created a blue line on the edges of my nails as it dried and shatter. Ugly! In addition, I hated the navy blue and pink/gold together. Perhaps if I had let the shatter dry and not put on a top coat, I would have liked it more. I don't know; for some reason I just didn't like this at all. I took pictures and then took the whole thing off, something I rarely do! I will have to see what this shatter looks like with other base colors. Maybe something without so much sparkle? Now that I look at it more, it's not so terrible, but I was extremely unsatisfied with it. I'm also not really satisfied with these pictures either, so I apologize for that.
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (shade):
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Zoya Reva
Reva is one of the six polishes that made up Zoya's Summer 2011 Sunshine Collection. Zoya describes this polish as "a cool toned strawberry red with glowing golden metallic sparkle. A very rich and luxurious looking gilded red." This is a beautiful polish-- a wonderful deep red berry color with tons of gold foil flecks. Very pretty. The polish goes on very smoothly; I used two coats here. Being very foil-like in nature, these polishes are a little difficult to remove, so soak a cotton ball or round in nail polish remover and press it onto the nail for several seconds before wiping the polish off, which helps with the removal.
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash (here you can see more of the strawberry color):
Natural light (shade - I love this picture! You see the berry color of the base and the beautiful golden shimmer):
Natural light (sun):
As a side note, Zoya is having a great promo right now where if you buy their Color Lock System ($48), which includes two different base coats, a top coat, quick drying drops, and their polish rejuvenator, you can pick up either the Sunshine Collection or Summertime Collection for FREE, including free shipping! While $48 may seem steep, think about what you get: all the products for taking care of your nails, plus six polishes! It's a steal. If I didn't already own collections, I would definitely take advantage of it, because it's a great deal. This promo runs through Tuesday, June 28th.
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash (here you can see more of the strawberry color):
Natural light (shade - I love this picture! You see the berry color of the base and the beautiful golden shimmer):
Natural light (sun):
As a side note, Zoya is having a great promo right now where if you buy their Color Lock System ($48), which includes two different base coats, a top coat, quick drying drops, and their polish rejuvenator, you can pick up either the Sunshine Collection or Summertime Collection for FREE, including free shipping! While $48 may seem steep, think about what you get: all the products for taking care of your nails, plus six polishes! It's a steal. If I didn't already own collections, I would definitely take advantage of it, because it's a great deal. This promo runs through Tuesday, June 28th.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
OPI Turquoise Shatter
OPI released several new shatters in addition to their black and silver shatters: red, white, turquoise, blue, and navy. These things sell out like hot cakes (at least when first released) but I managed to snag all five recently. I've played with both the black and silver shatters, but while I had RBL's Bikini Bottom I decided to grab one of the new shatters and see what it looked like. I decided on Turquoise Shatter because I thought the blues/green would play nicely off each other.
I'll be honest and say that I didn't love this straight off. I don't know if it's the coolness of Bikini Bottom or the shimmer of the Turquoise Shatter, but I almost took the whole thing off as soon as I put it on. I decided not to, though, and lo and behold, all my coworkers thought it was awesome. The longer I wore, the more I liked it, but I think I would like to try Turquoise Shatter over some other color-- maybe something darker.
The polish was also a bit on a thick side, which is typical of shatters, but this seemed extra think. You can see it kind of got gloppy on my middle finger and looks kind of lumpy.
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash (blinding!):
Natural light (shade):
Natural light (sun):
I'll be honest and say that I didn't love this straight off. I don't know if it's the coolness of Bikini Bottom or the shimmer of the Turquoise Shatter, but I almost took the whole thing off as soon as I put it on. I decided not to, though, and lo and behold, all my coworkers thought it was awesome. The longer I wore, the more I liked it, but I think I would like to try Turquoise Shatter over some other color-- maybe something darker.
The polish was also a bit on a thick side, which is typical of shatters, but this seemed extra think. You can see it kind of got gloppy on my middle finger and looks kind of lumpy.
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash (blinding!):
Natural light (shade):
Natural light (sun):
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Base Coats!
Some of my friends who are not polish fanatics asked me to make some posts on nail polish basics. So I'm starting with base coats!
I will admit that when I started doing my nails a lot, I didn't use base coat. After doing some reading, I decided to get a bunch of base coats so that I could see what would work best.
So why do you need a base coat? Well, base coats do several things. They protect your nails from staining from dark colored polishes and getting yellow. They help adhere polish to the nail for a longer lasting manicure or pedicure, while giving the nail a cleaner, more even surface to work with when you apply the polish. A lot of base coats today come with vitamins/proteins added to them to help strengthen your nails and to prevent them from getting too brittle and dry (and then cracking or peeling). So wearing a base coat is a good thing and definitely something you should do if you plan on painting your nails a lot or a little! You want to keep your nails happy and healthy while you're wearing polish.
So how do you choose a base coat? This is a little trickier. Some people swear by drugstore brands such as Revlon or Sally Hansen, while others love the more "designer" brands: OPI, Orly, CND, Seche, etc. My advice is to buy a few and test them out yourself to find something you like. What works for others may not work for you. You may want a ridge-filling base coat to make your nails more even, or a base coat that has added ingredients to strengthen your nails. Or maybe an extremely "sticky" base coat to ensure your manicure lasts a long time if you don't intend on changing your polish for awhile.
Another thing to consider: base coat primer. Your nails need to be clean and oil free before applying your polish-- so make sure to use nail polish remover to clean your nails a couple of time prior to applying base coat, at least. Some companies also sell "base coat prep" or "base coat primer" which seems to be mainly a solution of isopropanol to clean and quickly evaporate off the nail before applying base coat.
Next question: do you need to use each brand's base coat with that brand's polish? My answer, with my own limited knowledge and perusal of other nail polish blogs is NO. In fact, a lot of bloggers seem to find a brand of base coat they like/works for them and use that with everything. There are some brands where I tend to prefer that brand's base coat with the polish (RBL, Zoya, and now Essie) but most of the time I tend to use Seshe Base with my polishes.
So where do you buy base coats? Well, if you can find an Ulta or some other beauty store (or drug store) near you, that's probably your best bet. If they carry a bunch of different brands you can pick out a few to try. If not, your next best bet is to shop around online-- you also might be able to find some for cheaper than retail price at places like Nail Supplies (formerly TransDesign), though beware, because with shipping it may not end up being an cheaper.
My base coat collection:
From left to right: Revlon Multi Care Base + Top Coat (not recommended), Orly Bonder, OPI Natural Base Coat, Seshe Base Coat, Essie First Base, Zoya Anchor, Rescue Beauty Lounge Base Coat Prep and Base Coat.
An article here has some good suggestions and tips for nail polish application as well. I will be doing a post on top coats later on! I hope this was helpful to my non-fanatic friends, at least in terms of being a primer for why you should use base coats and some of the things that are out there.
I will admit that when I started doing my nails a lot, I didn't use base coat. After doing some reading, I decided to get a bunch of base coats so that I could see what would work best.
So why do you need a base coat? Well, base coats do several things. They protect your nails from staining from dark colored polishes and getting yellow. They help adhere polish to the nail for a longer lasting manicure or pedicure, while giving the nail a cleaner, more even surface to work with when you apply the polish. A lot of base coats today come with vitamins/proteins added to them to help strengthen your nails and to prevent them from getting too brittle and dry (and then cracking or peeling). So wearing a base coat is a good thing and definitely something you should do if you plan on painting your nails a lot or a little! You want to keep your nails happy and healthy while you're wearing polish.
So how do you choose a base coat? This is a little trickier. Some people swear by drugstore brands such as Revlon or Sally Hansen, while others love the more "designer" brands: OPI, Orly, CND, Seche, etc. My advice is to buy a few and test them out yourself to find something you like. What works for others may not work for you. You may want a ridge-filling base coat to make your nails more even, or a base coat that has added ingredients to strengthen your nails. Or maybe an extremely "sticky" base coat to ensure your manicure lasts a long time if you don't intend on changing your polish for awhile.
Another thing to consider: base coat primer. Your nails need to be clean and oil free before applying your polish-- so make sure to use nail polish remover to clean your nails a couple of time prior to applying base coat, at least. Some companies also sell "base coat prep" or "base coat primer" which seems to be mainly a solution of isopropanol to clean and quickly evaporate off the nail before applying base coat.
Next question: do you need to use each brand's base coat with that brand's polish? My answer, with my own limited knowledge and perusal of other nail polish blogs is NO. In fact, a lot of bloggers seem to find a brand of base coat they like/works for them and use that with everything. There are some brands where I tend to prefer that brand's base coat with the polish (RBL, Zoya, and now Essie) but most of the time I tend to use Seshe Base with my polishes.
So where do you buy base coats? Well, if you can find an Ulta or some other beauty store (or drug store) near you, that's probably your best bet. If they carry a bunch of different brands you can pick out a few to try. If not, your next best bet is to shop around online-- you also might be able to find some for cheaper than retail price at places like Nail Supplies (formerly TransDesign), though beware, because with shipping it may not end up being an cheaper.
My base coat collection:
From left to right: Revlon Multi Care Base + Top Coat (not recommended), Orly Bonder, OPI Natural Base Coat, Seshe Base Coat, Essie First Base, Zoya Anchor, Rescue Beauty Lounge Base Coat Prep and Base Coat.
An article here has some good suggestions and tips for nail polish application as well. I will be doing a post on top coats later on! I hope this was helpful to my non-fanatic friends, at least in terms of being a primer for why you should use base coats and some of the things that are out there.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Rescue Beauty Lounge Bikini Bottom
After my vacation I decided to try another color from RBL's SpongeBob inspired collection from Summer 2008, because I loved Starfish Patrick so much. Bikini Bottom is very cool toned, watery pale blue jelly polish. I bought this recently as part of RBL's first Bring It Back vote, as it was a huge hit when first released and sold out (well before I ever jumped on the polish bandwagon). As a jelly, it is incredibly sheer and I put on five thin coats to try and get rid of the visible nail line. I'm not sure this really worked to my advantage, though, and I'm not super happy with the way this color applied. Nor was I super happy with the way the color looked on my fingers in the beginning-- the first coat went on and I was horrified to see that my hands look like corpse hands! The color got much better as I applied more coats, but I didn't think that application was all that great. The polish seemed streaky (or maybe I was too heavy handed with the brush) and I wasn't really thrilled with the way the manicure turned out, though from a distance it was hard to tell anything was wrong.
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (shade):
Natural light (sun):
It is a really pretty color, but I'm a little annoyed with the application issues. Also, for some reason, I seemed to get some air bubbles in the top coat layer, which hasn't happened to me before with RBL polish. Lame!
Edited: Whoops, I posted two of the same pictures for two different lighting conditions. It's fixed now!
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (sun):
It is a really pretty color, but I'm a little annoyed with the application issues. Also, for some reason, I seemed to get some air bubbles in the top coat layer, which hasn't happened to me before with RBL polish. Lame!
Edited: Whoops, I posted two of the same pictures for two different lighting conditions. It's fixed now!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Trade Secret Haul!
I live in Seattle and in the past year ALL of the Trade Secrets in the immediate area closed. I'm not sure why, but in any case, all the ones close to me closed their doors. At the time I was really devastated because I hadn't discovered Ulta yet and I didn't know where I was going to buy my OPI polishes. That's all worked out now because an Ulta opened nearby, and there are still some Trade Secret stores in the PNW area. This weekend my hubby and I were back down in Oregon for my FIL's surprised 60th birthday and Father's Day. Conveniently, there is a Trade Secret very close to their house. My dad had to stop and pick up a card, so I popped into the store. I was a little disappointed with the selection of OPI polishes-- it seemed very picked over and the store itself was very quiet for a Saturday afternoon. I didn't see anything I was dying to have, so I was about to leave when I noticed a display by the door with Essie (and some OPI) polishes for $2. Awesome! So I picked up five polishes and took them up to the counter and the girl rang them up and asked for $5-- they were all half off! Since I had $10 in cash I decided to pick out another five and this is what I got:
Nine Essie polishes and one OPI! For $1 each!
Up close we have:
From left to right we have: Guilty Pleasures, Watermelon, Wife Goes On, Very Cranberry and Jag-U-Are.
The second half:
From left to right: Wicked, Can You Tapas This?, It's Genius, Damsel in a Dress, and Sexy Divide.
Awesome! I love finding awesome deals like this. I want to stop and get some more, but will restrain myself.
Up close we have:
From left to right we have: Guilty Pleasures, Watermelon, Wife Goes On, Very Cranberry and Jag-U-Are.
The second half:
From left to right: Wicked, Can You Tapas This?, It's Genius, Damsel in a Dress, and Sexy Divide.
Awesome! I love finding awesome deals like this. I want to stop and get some more, but will restrain myself.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
China Glaze Cracked Concrete
Another shatter for your viewing pleasure! Cracked Concrete, as its highly original name suggests, is a grey crackle polish. It is a medium grey polish, and being a crackle it dries very quickly and then cracks. I decided to layer this over CG's First Mate and SOPI's Club Queen Scene because I thought the dark blue/teal and the grey would look nice together. I think it does-- the creme finish of the crackle contrasts nicely with the sparkle from Club Queen Scene, even though both the colors are fairly dark. Cracked Concrete cracked rather nicely-- if I remember correctly I applied a fairly thin coat here.
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (shade):
Natural light (sun):
And there's another crackle polish in the books! I'm still not totally sold on the crackle trend, though I like that it allows people who don't do nail art to have a little fun with their nails. I do have more crackle polishes, so you will be seeing some more here, but I think I just prefer having a "solid" color on my nails for the most part.
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (shade):
Natural light (sun):
And there's another crackle polish in the books! I'm still not totally sold on the crackle trend, though I like that it allows people who don't do nail art to have a little fun with their nails. I do have more crackle polishes, so you will be seeing some more here, but I think I just prefer having a "solid" color on my nails for the most part.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Sephora by OPI Club Queen Scene
Back to our regularly scheduled polishes!
This is a polish I pulled out while I was wearing China Glaze's First Mate. I wanted to spice up my manicure a bit and realized I had this polish sitting in one of my drawers, just waiting to be tried! I grabbed this from Sephora when it was on sale awhile ago-- it doesn't appear to be available anymore, though you could probably find it on eBay if you really wanted it. Club Queen Scene was released as part of Sephora by OPI's Fall 2010 Rocker Chic line.
Sephora describes this polish as a "sheer smoky gray with fine blue glitter". I'm not really sure this is a terribly accurate description. The base doesn't seem all that gray to me at all (maybe a smoky blue), and they neglect to mention the fact that the blue glitter also appears pretty teal colored in some light. I browsed around and a lot of other bloggers seemed to complain about the sheerness of this polish when worn alone, so I don't have a swatch of Club Queen Scene alone. Apologies! I assume it's like Gleek Out-- you can build it up to be opaque, but it's still a little streaky and messy. I figured that the blue of First Mate would enhance the blueness of the polish and give me a nice base to start from.
In any case, I thought this was really pretty with a blue base under it! Just the right amount of sparkle to spice things up. I bet this would also look really pretty over a teal or even black base.
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (shade):
This is a polish I pulled out while I was wearing China Glaze's First Mate. I wanted to spice up my manicure a bit and realized I had this polish sitting in one of my drawers, just waiting to be tried! I grabbed this from Sephora when it was on sale awhile ago-- it doesn't appear to be available anymore, though you could probably find it on eBay if you really wanted it. Club Queen Scene was released as part of Sephora by OPI's Fall 2010 Rocker Chic line.
Sephora describes this polish as a "sheer smoky gray with fine blue glitter". I'm not really sure this is a terribly accurate description. The base doesn't seem all that gray to me at all (maybe a smoky blue), and they neglect to mention the fact that the blue glitter also appears pretty teal colored in some light. I browsed around and a lot of other bloggers seemed to complain about the sheerness of this polish when worn alone, so I don't have a swatch of Club Queen Scene alone. Apologies! I assume it's like Gleek Out-- you can build it up to be opaque, but it's still a little streaky and messy. I figured that the blue of First Mate would enhance the blueness of the polish and give me a nice base to start from.
In any case, I thought this was really pretty with a blue base under it! Just the right amount of sparkle to spice things up. I bet this would also look really pretty over a teal or even black base.
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (shade):
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Things to look forward to
Just got in some new polishes to play with and just for fun I took some bottle pics to share. I'm finding it difficult to find time to swatch whole collections right now... the real world is making it hard to find time for me to do more than a couple polishes at a time. I'd really like to be able to do some collections, but that may not pan out (at least, posting them all at once). I'll try, though!
OPI shatters (red, white, navy, blue, and turquoise):
Zoya Mod Mattes (Phoebe, Mitzi, Lolly):
Zoya Touch (Minka, Shay, Pandora):
Some great polishes to look forward to! I'm hoping that even though we're heading out of town this weekend I might have some time to swatch.
OPI shatters (red, white, navy, blue, and turquoise):
Zoya Mod Mattes (Phoebe, Mitzi, Lolly):
Zoya Touch (Minka, Shay, Pandora):
Some great polishes to look forward to! I'm hoping that even though we're heading out of town this weekend I might have some time to swatch.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Spa adventures!
This past weekend I spend three days in Bend, OR with my husband's family as a big birthday celebration (my husband, my father-in-law, and myself all have birthdays within two weeks of each other) and since my husband and my FIL are hitting big milestones this year (30 and 60 respectively) my MIL wanted to do something big. So all of us, including my SIL and her fiancé all traveled out to Bend to spend some relaxing time together. The weather didn't exactly cooperate the entire time, but Bend is a fun, charming little town and we had fun doing brewery tours, exploring downtown, playing golf (the boys) and getting pedicures (the girls).
Our hotel, The Riverhouse offered a 10% discount at the Anjou Spa and so my MIL decided to treat us girls to their signature pedicure so we could have some pampering. Anjou Spa is apparently a green spa, and so only uses green products-- including their nail polish. To this effort, they use Zoya polish, which is a vegan polish, and free of formaldehyde, toulene, DBP, and camphor.
I was originally going to go with RBL's Bikini Bottom on my toes (yes, I did pack nail polish on my vacation) but in the end of go with one of the Zoya polishes they had available and picked Charla, which is a sparkly blue-green polish. (As an aside, Zoya is currently running a promo where you get a free bottle of Charla and Ivanka with any purchase. Enter the code ZOYASPARKLE during check out.) This polish has a very summery feel to it-- it seems like something a mermaid would wear!
The pedicure itself was wonderful-- very relaxing. They use big cushy leather chairs that lean you back while they work on your feet. It's probably way more comfortable for the technicians and also very relaxing for the recipient. In addition to a wonderful massage, they also wrap your feet in hot towels to relax them. Wonderful. We walked away perfectly relaxed and our feet felt great.
And this is the finished product and one of the few times you'll see my toes:
The polish looks more green here, but is really a blueish green teal color with tons of sparkler. Beautiful! Both the polish and my feet! Felt nice to have a splurge-- usually I just get a quickie pedicure at the small nail place around the corner.
Our hotel, The Riverhouse offered a 10% discount at the Anjou Spa and so my MIL decided to treat us girls to their signature pedicure so we could have some pampering. Anjou Spa is apparently a green spa, and so only uses green products-- including their nail polish. To this effort, they use Zoya polish, which is a vegan polish, and free of formaldehyde, toulene, DBP, and camphor.
I was originally going to go with RBL's Bikini Bottom on my toes (yes, I did pack nail polish on my vacation) but in the end of go with one of the Zoya polishes they had available and picked Charla, which is a sparkly blue-green polish. (As an aside, Zoya is currently running a promo where you get a free bottle of Charla and Ivanka with any purchase. Enter the code ZOYASPARKLE during check out.) This polish has a very summery feel to it-- it seems like something a mermaid would wear!
The pedicure itself was wonderful-- very relaxing. They use big cushy leather chairs that lean you back while they work on your feet. It's probably way more comfortable for the technicians and also very relaxing for the recipient. In addition to a wonderful massage, they also wrap your feet in hot towels to relax them. Wonderful. We walked away perfectly relaxed and our feet felt great.
And this is the finished product and one of the few times you'll see my toes:
The polish looks more green here, but is really a blueish green teal color with tons of sparkler. Beautiful! Both the polish and my feet! Felt nice to have a splurge-- usually I just get a quickie pedicure at the small nail place around the corner.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Vacation Manicure - Rescue Beauty Lounge Starfish Patrick
I bought this polish on a whim when I was making an order at RBL-- because I'm a hoarder and it was running low, I decided to snag a bottle just because. This was from a SpongeBob inspired collection that was released in summer of 2008 and proved to be very popular with polish enthusiasts. I wasn't quite sure I was in love with the color but had seen rave reviews so I took a chance. This polish is described thusly: "If your fingernails could blush, they'd turn this shade of sheer peachy coral. Utterly feminine, yet super chic and sophisticated."
It's a jelly polish, so it is indeed sheer-- I used five coats here and there is still some visible nail line, though not much. I probably could have gotten away with four, but I wasn't really happy with the way I applied the polish.
Anyway, I love this polish. Cantaloupe is one of my favorite colors and this peachy orange coral is pretty darn close, though it definitely leans pink/peach rather than orange. Love this! Super chic and looks great for summer. Currently on the RBL blog Ji recommends pairing this with Bikini Bottom (another polish from the same collection which I own but haven't tried out yet). For my vacation I have Starfish Patrick on my nails and OPI's What's with the Cattitude? in a close approximation of her recommended combo.
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (shade):
It's a jelly polish, so it is indeed sheer-- I used five coats here and there is still some visible nail line, though not much. I probably could have gotten away with four, but I wasn't really happy with the way I applied the polish.
Anyway, I love this polish. Cantaloupe is one of my favorite colors and this peachy orange coral is pretty darn close, though it definitely leans pink/peach rather than orange. Love this! Super chic and looks great for summer. Currently on the RBL blog Ji recommends pairing this with Bikini Bottom (another polish from the same collection which I own but haven't tried out yet). For my vacation I have Starfish Patrick on my nails and OPI's What's with the Cattitude? in a close approximation of her recommended combo.
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (shade):
Thursday, June 9, 2011
China Glaze Crushed Candy
A few weeks ago the China Glaze crackle polishes became available as Sally Beauty so I decided to grab the colored ones while they were available and play around them them. Here I'm going to show you Crushed Candy, which is a turquoise crackle. Here I've got it paired with Ahoy! from the Anchors Away collection, which is a raspberry red glass fleck polish. I'm still not sold on using crackles all the time, as prefer a cleaner (solid color) look on my nails for day to day wear, but all the crackle/shatter polishes being introduced right now have given me some ideas to play with for football season!
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Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (shade):
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Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (shade):
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
China Glaze Knotty Nauticals!
This spring China Glaze released a 12 piece collection entitled Anchors Away and split it into two smaller groups: Knotty Nauticals and Sand & Sea. Here I've got the Knotty Nauticals, which are the bright colors of this collection-- Sand & Sea has the softer, more neutral colors.
First up, we have Ahoy! which is a pink glass fleck polish-- though a much more raspberry colored pink than say 108 Degrees, which is more of a hot pink. I seriously loved this polish. Applied really well-- I don't know what it is about these red/pink glass fleck polishes, but they go on like butter. I can't quite remember if this was two or three coats.
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (shade):
Natural light (sun):
Next up is Lighthouse, which you have sort of seen already. It's a beautiful bright yellow polish with gold glass flecks. I used three coats here. There is still some visible nail line, but it didn't bother me too much. Still, I think this polish is better over a yellow base polish.
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (shade):
Natural light (sun):
Then we have Hey Sailor, which is a bright red creme. This looked more cherry red in the bottle but appeared to be more tomato red on my nails. Still very pretty. This was my Memorial Day manicure. I used two coats here.
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (shade):
Then we have First Mate, which is a navy blue creme. Personally, I think that it's not quite navy, but it is a beautiful dusky blue color. Love it! I actually got away with one coat here, except on my middle finger where I need to two to fix some incomplete coverage.
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (shade):
Then there's Starboard, which is a dusky kelly green color. I used three coats here, but mainly due to my own application issues. I think you could get away with two.
Natural light:
Natural light with flash:
Natural light (shade):
And rounding out the collection we have Life Perserver. I'm sure you can guess what color that is. China Glaze as a "poppy creme" but I don't really see any red highlights in there-- it appears to have more blue undertones, giving it a more melon color. I used two coats here and the polish is pretty opaque, though there was still some visible nail line on my ring finger. It doesn't really show up in the pictures, though, and wasn't terribly noticeable in person.
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (shade):
And there is the Knotty Nauticals group! Lots of fun colors-- very summery. Sorry some of the pictures aren't super great-- I am still working on my technique. They look great on my camera's little screen, and then not quite as great when I crop them down on the computer.
First up, we have Ahoy! which is a pink glass fleck polish-- though a much more raspberry colored pink than say 108 Degrees, which is more of a hot pink. I seriously loved this polish. Applied really well-- I don't know what it is about these red/pink glass fleck polishes, but they go on like butter. I can't quite remember if this was two or three coats.
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (shade):
Natural light (sun):
Next up is Lighthouse, which you have sort of seen already. It's a beautiful bright yellow polish with gold glass flecks. I used three coats here. There is still some visible nail line, but it didn't bother me too much. Still, I think this polish is better over a yellow base polish.
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (shade):
Natural light (sun):
Then we have Hey Sailor, which is a bright red creme. This looked more cherry red in the bottle but appeared to be more tomato red on my nails. Still very pretty. This was my Memorial Day manicure. I used two coats here.
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (shade):
Then we have First Mate, which is a navy blue creme. Personally, I think that it's not quite navy, but it is a beautiful dusky blue color. Love it! I actually got away with one coat here, except on my middle finger where I need to two to fix some incomplete coverage.
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (shade):
Then there's Starboard, which is a dusky kelly green color. I used three coats here, but mainly due to my own application issues. I think you could get away with two.
Natural light:
Natural light with flash:
Natural light (shade):
And rounding out the collection we have Life Perserver. I'm sure you can guess what color that is. China Glaze as a "poppy creme" but I don't really see any red highlights in there-- it appears to have more blue undertones, giving it a more melon color. I used two coats here and the polish is pretty opaque, though there was still some visible nail line on my ring finger. It doesn't really show up in the pictures, though, and wasn't terribly noticeable in person.
Artificial light:
Artificial light with flash:
Natural light (shade):
And there is the Knotty Nauticals group! Lots of fun colors-- very summery. Sorry some of the pictures aren't super great-- I am still working on my technique. They look great on my camera's little screen, and then not quite as great when I crop them down on the computer.
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