NotD: Glitterati in the Nude

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Ulta Set the Nude. Two coats, no topcoat. This polish is kinda awesome - it's a fully opaque nude that is perfect underwear for us pale girls. It has just a touch of pink, making it very flattering, while still being a shade of pale tan that is very chic. If I had been more careful, and were applying a sheer color (instead of a clear-based glitter) one coat would've been plenty to obscure the dreaded VNL (visible nail line). It was a little thick, but not horrible - I did add some thinner for next time, though.

Also, with initial testing (literally on paper), this looks like it should be a fantastic stamping polish! I'm excited about that, because pale stamping polishes are hard to find. I got this recently from the Ulta $5 for 5 table, and it's in the oldish square bottles, with the shiny, square plastic cap - not the Pro, just regular. (Incidentally, I wish Ulta would just settle down with their bottle changes! They've changed three times in as many years, and each time the bottles get smaller, while the price stays the same. Boo!)

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Sation Pyramid Princess (over Ulta StN). This is two coats, with one coat of topcoat. It's surprisingly smooth, but if you're like me and need it glass-smooth, an additional coat of topcoat would get you there. I held off because I plan to stamp over it. It applies a bit thick and gloopy, but the coverage is great, and a little thinner helped with the gloopiness. It's incredibly complex for a mainstream glitter, so I'll list what I can see. As far as I can tell, it contains several sizes of hex glitter, like so: small (almost micro) gold and silver, slightly larger silver, medium black, largish blue, largish pink holographic and largish iridescent all in roughly equal proportions. The overall effect is a lovely speckled disco ball, really blingy. See the reflection on my ring finger bouncing off my pinkie nail? It's super-sparkly, even in low light.

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I'm so excited to see that our area TJ Maxx's and Marshall's have finally started getting a trickle of Sations! I've been keeping an eye out for weeks now, since seeing the first blog posts about them. About two weeks ago, I found the same lone pastel pink at 3 or 4 different locations. Now, I'm seeing a handful of creams at a few locations, and this one orphaned in one. Being the first glitter Sation I've found so far, naturally I snatched it up in my greedy little paws! If this is representative of the collection, I can't wait to see the full displays!

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Aaand one last shot, because after years of practice and a few different cameras, I've come to the inescapable conclusion that I really suck at capturing glitter in pictures. So, Quantity over Quality, folks! Hopefully my description somewhat makes up for my lack of camera skillz. And maybe someday I'll get a DSLR (rather than my current point-and-shoot, let's blame the camera! ), and see if my quality improves.

Vault 106: $OPI Run With It Shattered

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Sephora by OPI Run With It, 2 coats with topcoat. I remember really lemming this polish, then being a bit disappointed by it. It kinda gives me corpse hands, and the shimmer is not nearly as visible on the nail as it is in the bottle, but it does have a sort of textured look to it. It certainly isn't flat or chalky, it's just a bit blah on me, kinda like Minnesota weather in February.

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And a coat of OPI Turquoise Shatter livens it up! I loved this because it makes me think of water washing over a white sand beach. What I wouldn't give to see that in person right now!

Happy Valentine's Day!

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I really wanted to do something vampy and classy today, after doing sweet and cute hearts yesterday. So, I went vintage '40s style. My nails have really grown a lot lately, and are too long (for me), but I hate just chopping them off. Instead, I decided to try out a new nail shape while they were long enough to do it. I was going for almond, but clearly ended up more round. I really suck at shaping!
Anyway, if anyone remembers the 1940's, or has seen old ads and photos, they might recognize this look. I hear it was quite trendy back then! I did this using two coats Sally Hansen Without a Stitch (the nude, of course!), then added two coats China Glaze Phat Santa, masking off the half-moons with hole punch reinforcement stickers.

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This pic is just for fun. I used my editing software to make this black-and-white, then colorized it, to make it look a bit vintage. Actually, this is pretty close to the real color in low light. Phat Santa is a chameleon - in bright light, it's a nice bright red, but in lower light, it's more oxblood, but always clearly red. So both photos are color-accurate, even though the second is colorized!
Happy Valentine's Day! (aka Happy Half-price Chocolates Eve! )

Disclosure: China Glaze Phat Santa was provided for review. All other polishes in this post were purchased by me.

A Classic

This may be a post about a classic French manicure, but everything in it is new to me! :D 1) I've never done a true French, 2) never used a water-based polish and 3) never attempted any sort of lines without masking tape or tip guides. (My little, former secret: I'm terribly untalented when it comes to drawing of ANY kind - I can't draw a straight line to save my life, sometimes even using a straight-edge, no joke!)

I got this kit of mini polishes from Vitacost, after reading about water-based polishes online. I was really curious, and figured this would be the easiest way to test them, along with their special remover. I followed these directions exactly, except I skipped the  nail guides, in favor of a technique I saw in a tutorial on another blog. (Sorry, but I can't remember which one. If it was you, feel free to comment, and thanks for the great tip!)

The kit came with two sheer colors, and I chose Bermuda Pink (as opposed to Palm Beach), because I thought it might counteract the 'slight' staining on my nails. As it turns out, I don't think it would matter, since they're so sheer.

I applied Manicure White to the tips, using two coats. It doesn't matter if it's sloppy, because you use a brush to sweep away the excess. Basically, you dip the brush in remover, then sweep it back and forth across the nail until you get the line you want. The only downside is that you can't use a basecoat or nail treatment, since it would sweep that away, too. But, for being so untalented, I thought it came out pretty nice! It was easy to do on my left hand, but took me forever to do my right, since I'm right-handed and totally useless when using my left.

Finished!
For my fellow curious types, I also wanted to review Honeybee Gardens' formula. To be honest, I was not impressed. The white was a little too sheer for my taste - as you can see above, I still have VNL (visible nail line), which looks especially lame in a French. The pink was really streaky, and wouldn't even out or build up color. (This may be the only time that I request that you NOT click the pics, since it's a little too gory for a close-up. :P) These pics were taken after moving some furniture that night, so there are a few stress fractures across the nailplate, but that could happen with traditional polish, too, so I didn't sweat that too much. What I didn't appreciate was the next day, after I showered/washed my hair, the polish was flaking off everywhere! Ugh, I ended up removing it less than 24 hours after application, which does not make me happy! Speaking of removing, the upside is that it CAN be removed with 91% rubbing alcohol, so you really don't need the pricey remover. The downside is that it takes just as much elbow grease as 'regular' polish, and the remover is not kind to skin!
Just a quick FYI: Vitacost considers this a 'special order' item, which means it takes FOREVER to ship. Normally, they're very quick, but I ordered these (with other stuff) on Dec 12, and didn't receive the package until Jan 8! That is unheard of with Vitacost, and I know it was the polish holding things up, so be aware!
On the positive side, there were no application issues, as far as polish consistency and messiness. Also, this dried as fast as traditional polish, despite the Honeybee Gardens website indicating that it could take up to six hours to cure fully. Yeesh!
All in all, I probably won't be buying any more, but I might franken these into prettier colors and wear them occasionally anyway.

Mannequin Hands

Having seen this look on a few other nail blogs, I wasn't sure I liked it - typically I'm a dark polish kinda girl. But, also being hip and trendy (;D), I thought about trying it out. At first, I was going to mix some of my mineral foundation in clear polish, since that would give me the closest match, in theory. Then, I saw this Essence polish in Ulta the other day, (for under $2!) and it seemed as close as I could get without sacrificing foundation.

Essence Creamylicious Iced Chai Latte. This is 2 coats, no topcoat (yet). It was a little thick - it may need a drop or two of thinner next time. It has a very subtle, hidden shimmer, and it's pretty on it's own. I think I kinda like it!

Here, I added a coat of China Glaze Matte Magic, and it's kinda creepy how similar it is to real mannequin plastic. Especially after a day's wear and a little shine creeping back in, which is normal for matte topcoats.
So, that's my experiment with Mannequin Hands. I think it's freakishly funky in a hip, edgy kinda way. What do you think? Is it close enough? Do you like the look?
Thanks for reading!