My Favorite Purple Jelly

Hmm, layer cake? Jelly roll? Jelly sammich? Must have food on the brain. Specifically, grape jelly. Love my New York Summer Hot Purple! I found this beauty for $2.50 in a bin at the nail salon in my local Wal-Mart - and I'm considering going back for more! I can see myself using this color a LOT. It's the perfect shade of purple, with just enough blue and the jelly finish is just so squishy and delicious! I forgot to get pics of it alone, but I think you'll get a good idea of the color from my layering pic. Behold!

full sun

New York Summer Hot Purple layered with Colormate Glitter Glam and Confetti Tasmanian Devil, in this order: 1 coat NYS HP + 1 coat CM GG + 1 coat NYS HP + 1 coat C TD + 2 coats topcoat. Capisce? (Note to self: wrap tips on ALL color layers when applying a jelly. That's not tipwear or shrinkage you see at the free edge, it's just the translucent nature of jellies - it wasn't as noticeable IRL.) Love this combo! I used two different glitters for the layers, because after the first layer of Glitter Glam, I wasn't as fond of the all-one-size-glitter-pieces as I thought I'd be, so the Confetti gave me the smaller glitter, also. Whenever I do a jelly sandwich now, I like to do a glitter layer on top, as well as in the middle, because I think it gives it more depth.
FYI, I got Colormate Glitter Glam at Big Lots, in a three-pack (with two other great colors) for $2. If you've been meaning to try Diamond Cosmetics polishes, but haven't gotten around to an online order yet (like me), they also make Colormates. And Big Lots has been selling some awesome colors in three-packs, as well as individually (for 80¢ or $1, depending on location). Dollar Tree has also been selling some singles lately, fwiw.

And check this out: I used Elmer's glue for my basecoat, and the polish just popped right off (when I wanted it to, of course). This trick started popping up on blogs last summer, ever since Essence came out with a PVA-based basecoat that was only available in Europe. Somebody did their homework, and realized that plain old white school glue was the exact same stuff, and glitter polish removal was changed forever! I just put some glue in one of my empty bottles, brushed two coats onto clean nails, letting each dry completely (being extra careful not to get any glue on my cuticles), then went to town with my glitter. When I was ready to remove the polish, I just used an orange stick at the base of each nail, and gently worked the polish right off.
As you can see, it comes off pretty easily in a solid sheet, with little damage to the nail. I say 'little' because there is still some damage, especially near the free edge, and I have a theory about that: I think heat has something to do with the ease of removal. My nailbeds are warm enough to loosen the hold of the glue, but my free edge isn't quite warm enough for that, causing the glue to hold a little tighter - pulling up an extra layer or two of nail when the polish is pulled off. I haven't tested that theory yet, but next time, I will either remove right after a hot shower, or use a blowdryer to warm up the free edges, and see if I can't minimize the damage even further. (The other possibility is that my nails are prone to flaking, and this removal process just exacerbates that tendency.)

I'm probably weird, but I find the little nail-shaped flakes of polish fascinating. Look how pretty and translucent NYS Hot Purple is! Anybody else try the glue trick yet? I'd love to hear about your experiences, especially if you can verify (or disprove) my heat theory.