A Hot Mess Indeed

Happy Friday!

Today I have my attempt at covering up OPI, I Theodora You from my last post. I have this awesome milky sheer jelly polish with iridescent glitter and irregularly shaped gold glitter pieces that I knew would look perfect over this pink jelly. I was hoping the milky white base in Wet n' Wild's  Mountain High (collaboration polish line with Fergie) would blend in well with the slight streakiness of I Theodora You.

I have tried out Mountain High on it's own but it it way to sheer unless you want total visible nail line. It is quite pretty on it's own, and I know some people can pull it off, but my nails are just brutal this winter, not good to look at au natural at the moment! Anyways, this is one of those glitters you really have to dab on the nail to get a good amount on the nail. So I blobbed on one coat for each nail, and I love the outcome!

Super girly and pretty and it covered up the imperfections from the base polish... That is until it started to bubble! No luck with I Theodora you this time, such a shame. At least I had a day with this look, the bubbles kind of mixed in with the glitter, but it just bothered me to the point of removal.

It was pretty while it lasted :)

One last note before the weekend, inspired by Mardi Gras and St. Patrick's day, for the Month of March I will be sporting green and purple on my nails exclusively. I am doing this on my own but if you'd like to join me let me know, I'd be happy to link your blog in my March posts if your are interested.

I Theodora You, I Adore You Not...

Today I have a lovely dainty shade to share with you that I recently picked up. It's from the Wizard of Oz collection OPI released last year. It's your standard baby pink but in jelly form, its so glossy and squishy and awesome.

At this point you are probably wondering about the title of this post, right? It is an awesome colour, an awesome finish, but I had major issues with the formula, and the worst part is I think it is my fault! You see, I was handling coconut oil last night during application and I'm not sure if I didn't remove it properly but I was getting weird streaking with the brush. My base coat went on fine, but each stroke of polish has these tiny little streaks that would just not even out.

If you have had the same issue with this polish in particular OR with having excess oil on your fingers while applying polish can you please let me know if you reversed it? It's frustrating not knowing if its the polish or the oil that has been screwing with the formula. I attempted to apply the polish again with the same issue, so it's either the polish or the oil stuck in the brush/polish? It's killing me! I even tried changing the brush!

Luckily he photos don't show the streakiness, just the beauty this polish truly is. I applied two coats and was happy with the faint visible nail line. Hopefully the next time I pull it out I won;t have any issues.

A Small, Neutral Haul

I ordered some polishes from Amazon around early February, and receiving them now I can see I was totally inspired by the hopes of spring coming early and Valentines. None of these polishes are from newer collections, just ones I had been meaning to pick up, plus I had some Amazon credit accumulated from Swagbucks. Lets start off with the OPIs.

From left to right, My Vampire is Buff and I Theadora You.

My Vampire is Buff has been calling to me for a while, I've just put off buying it for too long. It's a very light beigey neutral with the slightest hint of nude. MrCandiiPants on YouTube (among others) uses it often for her beautiful artwork, I just knew I had to add it to my collection as well. Two coats of this creme are shown in my swatch below.

I Theadora You is from the Wizard of OZ collection released last year. This sheer baby pink jelly is super sweet and delicate. I love OPI Bubble Bath and wanted a pinker option to wear on its own or a base for nail art and glitter sandwiches. Three coats are shown in my swatch below.

Next Up is a sparkly China Glaze.

China Glaze Hello Gorgeous was released apart of the United in Purpose collection from 2012. It is so much more awesome in person! It is comprised of dense pink HOLO microglitter. This just shines to beautifully. It dries a bit gritty which is expected from glitters like these from China Glaze, so extra topcoat will be needed for a smooth and glossy shine. I used three coats for full coverage in my swatch below.

Last, but not least, I have a new Zoya Pixie dust, the second Pixie Dust added to my collection, and it impresses way better than the first, Carter. Godiva, I just love that name, is a neutral tan textured glitter.  really love this one, mainly because it is like sparkling sand on your nails and it makes me crave  summer! I applied two regular coats and a final thin coat on top for full coverage in my swatch below.

One last random that was not apart of my Amazon purchase is this adorable Cover Girl Outlast polish in Pina Colada.

The RCSS was clearing a bunch of makeup items last week for crazy cheap, between 25 to 50 cents each! There were also some other items between $1.00 and $2.00. This cute little yellow polish set me back 50 cents and I just had to try it out. It is a little brighter on the nail than the pastel colour in the bottle and took me two to three coats to get fully opaque, it was a tad streaky. But it is a yellow creme!

BOGO Free Polish At Sally's! Coupon Code Valid In-store or Online!

I came across an awesome three day promo for polish at Sally's in my inbox today! Buy one get one free on any nail polish or soak off gel from now until Thursday. The only exception to this rule seems to be OPI polish but you can still pick up polish from other brands like China Glaze, Orly Finger Paints and more!

Print out this coupon for in-store use or use the code for online pururcahses. I am hoping my Sally's has the latest spring offering from China Glaze, wish me luck!

Happy Shopping!

Leather Loose

Lately it has been taking me for ever to pick and choose a polish to wear! However, the other day I pretty much chose the first polish I saw, an untried on my desk that has a very interesting finish, Sinful Colors Leather Loose.

In the bottle it appears to be a deep brown with golden shimmer. On the, nail first swipe, the base is closer to burgundy in colour. After a second coat the base appears the same shade as the bottle and is fully opaque. Since the polish has a matte finish I did not add a top coat. The first coat was a bit tricky, however if you move quickly it should apply evenly.

The matte finish is super cool, the shimmer adds a bit of a suede texture to the finish. The one thing I never really liked about suede or matte polishes is that over time with wear, maybe a few days, the matte finish usually begins to turn in to a wax or shinier finish. This also happens with the use of lotion. Kind of annoying since it ruins the finish. This may be the reason why I wasn't so in love with this polish. As soon as it dried and I saw the finish I thought it was awesome, but after a day of regular activity with my hands (washing dishes, preparing food, shower, etc) it just didn't have the super matte finish as it did after first application.

Dreamy

Happy, happy Friday! Today I have such a gorgeous polish from Zoya to share with you, Dream. I was so close to missing out on this one late last year. Zoya doesn't ship to Canada so it is difficult (and expensive!) to add Zoya's to my collection when compared to other brands. I was cross-boarder shipping in late November and was hoping to pick up this beauty at Ulta, but when I found the display it was the only polish sold out completely! The sales lady even looked in the back for me... Luckily for me someone must have moved the last bottle to the core display and when I found it, I snatched it up super quick!!

Dream is a deep blue jelly generously sprinkled with holographic speckles of glitter. This is the same formula as Storm, Aurora and Payton. I regret not picking up Blaze, I am hoping to acquire it soon, hopefully for the earth day promo they have around the beginning of spring each year.

The formula was medium thick, I applied a few drops of thinner after the first coat. Other than that application was flawless and smooth. I only needed two coats for full opacity! Totally in love with this colour, I had been putting of wearing it for way too long. I wonder what other colours Zoya will choose to create with the same jelly/glitter formula, or if they even choose too. I will definitely be picking them up when and if I have the chance!

My Heart Light

One last modification to my previous layering of manis! It started with Sally Hanson Salon Nail Lacquer in Hearts on Fire, a saturated red Jelly on Valentines. I then sandwiched Sinful Colors Unwrap Me, a black and red/magenta glitter, in between Hearts on Fire on Saturday. Finally on Sunday, I added a simple Bundles monster stamp to my ring fingers from plate BM-411.

I stamped with Konad special polish in white. I love this design, I almost overlooked it at first glace. does that ever happen to you? You don;t even realize awesome designs that are included on your plates.... probably because you own too many like me...! If you created this design for the Bundle Monster contest last year, please let me know!

As you can see I applied the heart monitor design to line up with the smile line on my nail and I am happy with the simple yet elegant look.  you can really see the pop of magenta in the gliter, I love how it peeks through. A whole lot of red for me this past weekend, but I promise I will have a polish from the other end of the colour spectrum tomorrow!

Jelly Sammich

Woohoo! I love long weekends that end on a Monday, it's like two for one, loooong weekend and short work week! Today I have a jelly sandwich I did with a bright jelly red polish, Sally Hanson Salon Nail Lacquer Hearts on Fire, previously shown in my last blog post. This combo of glitter and polish was created on a whim and I love the end result! The glitter I used with Hearts on Fire is Sinful Colors Unwrap Me.

Unwrap Me was apart of Sinful Colors holiday collection this past Christmas. It is made up of black regular small and medium hex glitter and a sprinkling of red/magenta hex glitter. It contrasted well with the red base. I applied one thicker coat of the glitter over one layer of Hearts on Fire, dabbing to get even coverage of the glitter on each nail.

I then layered another coat of Hearts on Fire over the glitter. Once that was dry I added a final thinner coat of glitter on top and finished everything off with top coat. I am super in love with this combo! I mean, it has black glitter, black glitter is one of my favourite things ever! The red/magenta hex glitter is subtle, however it peaks through beautifully in most lighting, it reflects the light so well.

Hearts on Fire!

Valenine's Day has come and gone, but I have a few more posts coming up with Valentine themed nails. Today I have a deep red jelly to share with you, Sally Hansen Salon Nail Lacquer in Hearts on Fire.

Heart's on Fire was apart of the older Sally Hansen salon wear line, you know, the square bottles with the rubber handles. I have a good collection of these and the formula on this one in particular is just awesome. It is a deep red jelly that is super saturated with colour, it is deep and bright at the same time. One coat applied like butter and was just barely sheer. A second coat gave full coverage with the squishy jelly look I love!

I have never worn this polish before (I did apply it to my sister for her Pokemon inspired nails in this post if you are interested) but thought it would be perfect for Valentines, and I was totally right! True red is a colour I usually avoid unless it is super dark and vampy. there is some sort of glitter (Ruby Red Pumps) or finish I really am drawn to. This fantastic red jelly has easily made it to my list of wearable reds for me!

I have a few more looks coming up with this polish, one layering experiment and one stamping look. Stay tuned :)

Happy Valentines!

Happy Friday and happy Valentines day! Whether you celebrate with a loved one, family, friends or not at all, I hope you have a great day! My boyfriend and I plan on staying in tonight, I have a little something planned for dinner, but we'll we'll probably go out on Saturday so we don't have to rush around Friday night, although plans are still up in the air.

Today I have a simple valentine themed mani I freehanded on a base of my last mani, Sinful Colors Cream Soda. You can really see the spritz of silver shimmer better in these photos if you zoom in! I applied a medium/thick coat of glitter, Essie Jazzy Jubilant, to the ring fingers. It includes various coloured hex glitter and smaller red glitter. On the rest of the nails I freehanded a polka dot heart pattern.

I used Sally Hansen Ceramic Wear in White Ghost and my smallest dotting tool for the pattern. I started out by plotting out the pattern with the dotting tool on the nail. Then I made every other dot a heart, still using the smallest dotter. I wanted the pattern to look delicate and girly. I really like the final result :)

Cream Soda!

I used to LOVE cream soda as a kid, easily one of my favorite carbonated beverages (besides root beer!) as a child. I didn't have it a lot, but it was a treat when I did! To be honest I can't remember the last time I had one, which is probably for the best since it basically just sugar and water... But I digress, we are here to talk about polish... Today I have a Sinful Colors polish from their latest Spring offering, Cream Soda.

The colour caught my eye immediately but the name got me all nostalgic. Cream Soda is a light salmon pink coral which is just on the border of being a pastel, however I think it is a touch brighter. The finish on this one is interesting, a cream with a hint of silver shimmer sprinkled throughout. It is more visible in the bottle than on the nail, it's actually slightly visible on the nail in the  right light. The shimmer acts as the tiny bubbles and foam of carbonation in cream soda... or maybe I am reading too much in to the name!

I could have gotten away with two thick coats put opted for three medium ones instead. The formula was thinner than most creams but great to work with. 

Rosey

Yesterday I mentioned that I was inspired to purchase Orly Rage from a friend who happened to be wearing it. She actually layered a glitter over top for her mani, Essie A Cut Above. A Cut Above has got to be the perfect complement for Rage, it is a slightly deeper pink and I would describe it as more gold toned than
Rage for sure.

I layered/dabbed one coats of glitter over Rage and seriously was in love! What a perfect quick and easy mani for Valentines! I would have never thought of layering a glitter over a chrome but I honestly did not want to remove this polish combo!

Once it started chipping I even tried to fill in the chips with glitter and polish lol. Ultimately I did have to remove it once the chipping started again. I feel like I have been bored lately with my polish choices and this one really got me excite again! Definitely my favourite mani of the year so far!